Two-Year Prison Sentence Highlights Trade-Based Money Laundering Risks

A New York woman has been sentenced to two years in prison for laundering more than 20 million US dollars in drug trafficking proceeds, underscoring the continued vulnerability of legitimate businesses to sophisticated trade-based money laundering schemes. The sentencing, announced on Monday, 2 February 2026, follows a long-running investigation into cross-border laundering activity linked to organised crime networks in the United States, Mexico and China.

According to court documents, Rui Fang Yu, 40, of New York City, played a central role in laundering proceeds generated from the sale of heroin and cocaine by a US-based drug trafficking organisation connected to a Mexican cartel. Yu accepted large volumes of cash from co-conspirators and used her professional position as an accountant at an airline ticket consolidator in Flushing, Queens, to disguise illicit funds as legitimate business revenue.

The scheme relied on trade-based money laundering techniques, with transactions presented as payments for airline ticket purchases. In reality, these transactions were designed to obscure the criminal origin of the funds while enabling their movement through corporate bank accounts. From there, the laundered proceeds were transferred to accounts controlled by co-conspirators in both the United States and China, illustrating the international reach and complexity of modern laundering networks.

Yu pleaded guilty in August 2025 to one count of conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering. The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and prosecuted by attorneys from the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section, alongside Assistant US Attorneys for the Eastern District of New York.

The case highlights persistent risks associated with trade-based money laundering, particularly where trusted employees exploit access to financial systems and weak transactional scrutiny. For financial institutions and corporates alike, it reinforces the importance of robust controls, effective transaction monitoring and a clear understanding of how legitimate trade activity can be misused to launder criminal proceeds at scale.

The mission of the Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section is to strip profit from crime, disrupt drug cartels and protect the US financial system. This prosecution demonstrates the continued focus of US authorities on financial facilitators and professional enablers who play a critical role in sustaining transnational organised crime.

Read the press release here.