A New York woman was sentenced today to two years in prison for her involvement in a Chinese money laundering scheme.
According to court documents, Rui Fang Yu, 40, of New York City, laundered over $20 million in proceeds from drug trafficking. Yu accepted large amounts of cash from co-conspirators involved in the laundering of drug proceeds, including from the sale of heroin and cocaine by a drug trafficking organization in the United States linked to a Mexican cartel. Yu used her position as an accountant at an airline ticket consolidator in Flushing, Queens, to launder these proceeds through her employer’s bank accounts. This complex scheme used trade-based money laundering to conceal drug proceeds through business transactions ostensibly made to purchase airline tickets. Ultimately, Yu and the co-conspirators facilitated the laundering of these funds to accounts controlled by co-conspirators in the United States and China.
In August 2025, Yu pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and FBI investigated the case.
Trial Attorneys Emily Cohen and Chelsea Rooney of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew Wang and Robert Pollack for the Eastern District of New York prosecuted the case.
The Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section’s (MNF) mission is to take the profit out of crime, eliminate drug cartels, and protect the U.S. financial system. MNF pursues criminal prosecutions and criminal and civil asset recovery actions involving: financial facilitators who conceal profits for criminals; financial institutions and their officers and employees who violate money laundering, Bank Secrecy Act, and sanctions laws; international money launderers who support transnational organized crime; and the top command and control of international drug trafficking organizations.