Chinese Importer of Fentanyl Precursors Sentenced to 25 Years

‘Americans were dying, but they kept selling,’ a DEA official said.

Tablets suspected to be fentanyl are placed on a graph at a Drug Enforcement Administration regional office in New York on Oct. 8, 2019. Don Emmert/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe on Sept. 18 sentenced a Chinese chemical company executive to 25 years in prison and three years supervised release for his role in importing fentanyl precursors to the United States.

Qingzhou Wang ran Amarvel Biotech in Hubei, China. A jury in January found Wang and coconspirator Yiyi Chen guilty of fentanyl precursor importation, money laundering, and, in the case of Wang, methamphetamine precursor importation.