States push WeChat for answers over money laundering allegations

A group of state attorneys general is demanding answers from the Chinese messaging app WeChat over its alleged use by money launderers connected to the fentanyl trade. 

According to a letter sent to the company on Monday, Chinese underground banking networks use WeChat to “orchestrate cash pickups in U.S. cities, arrange currency swaps between fentanyl traffickers and Chinese money brokers, and move laundered funds through layered transactions that are difficult to trace.” The allegations follow a handful of indictments in recent years connected to the alliance between Mexican cartels and Chinese money launderers. 

In 2021, the leader of a money laundering network that used WeChat to coordinate the movement of cash was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Three men were indicted last week in South Carolina for their alleged work for an organization that laundered tens of millions in proceeds from drug trades and which allegedly used WeChat to facilitate the laundering.  

The attorneys general from six states — New Hampshire, Colorado, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey and Mississippi — signed the letter. 

It requests WeChat, which is owned by Tencent, to respond by June 11 with a description of any steps the company has taken in response to criminal indictments, press reports and intelligence assessments on the use of the platform in connection to the drug trade. Tencent did not immediately respond to questions from Recorded Future News. 

“A growing body of well-documented evidence shows that WeChat is a central conduit for transnational money laundering operations, particularly those linked to the fentanyl trade,” the attorneys general wrote. “These operations have exacerbated a crisis that is devastating American communities, including in the undersigned states, by enabling drug traffickers to launder drug proceeds with minimal detection.”  

According to a Wall Street Journal investigation citing law enforcement officials, the laundering of drug proceeds involves operatives working for the cartels in the U.S. providing dollars to a broker for a Chinese money laundering network. The brokers then advertise the cash for sale through WeChat in exchange for Chinese yuan, which eventually ends up in a Chinese bank account connected to the launderers.