NEW YORK—A jury in New York on Wednesday convicted two Chinese nationals who sold more than 440 pounds of fentanyl precursors to undercover U.S. law-enforcement agents.
Qingzhou Wang, an executive of Chinese chemical company Hubei Amarvel Biotech, and Yiyi Chen, an employee of the company, were convicted at the Manhattan federal court of making and selling piperidine and knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the chemical would be imported to the United States and used to make fentanyl, according to a verdict returned on Wednesday and made available electronically on Thursday.
They were also convicted of money laundering, as well as manufacturing and distributing mathylamine, a precusor of methamphetamine.
The jury cleared the defendants of one count of conspiracy to manufacture, distrubute, or possess with intent to distribute fentanyl or a fentanyl-related substance.
During the trial, which began on Jan. 15, the court heard that Wang and Chen were arrested in Fiji on June 8, 2023, when they were meeting Gil, an undercover agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The pair first appeared in a Honolulu federal court on June 9 before their extradition. Wang is set to be sentenced on May 29, and Chen’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 5.
Since 2013, Fentanyl and its analogues have dramatically pushed up the rate of overdose deaths from synthetic opioids in the United States, from 1 death per 100,000 standard population in 2013 to 22.7 per 100,000 standard population in 2022, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, which is under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2022 alone, synthetic opioids such as fentanyl killed 73,838 people in the United States, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Federal prosecutors said fentanyl-related precursors are mainly sourced from China-based chemical manufacturers who often openly advertise the chemicals online.
According to the indictment, Amarvel has “blatently advertised online its distribution of fentanyl-related precursor chemicals, including to the United States and Mexico.” On its website, the company also advertised that it can ship the chemicals in dog food, nuts, or motor oil packages to evade customs inspection.
DEA agent Jose first began negotiating with Yang in November 2022, leading to the purchasing of three kilos of drug precursors—two types fentanyl precursors and one methamphetamine precursor.
Following the initial transaction, the parties agreed on another order of 200 kilos of chemicals, and set up a meeting between Wang, Chen, and DEA agent Gil in Thailand to discuss multi-ton shipments in the future.
During the covertly recorded meeting on March 23, 2023, after Gil claimed several American customers had died and asked for help to improve the formula, Wang and Chen agreed to assist Gil with fentanyl formulas after developing a deeper business relationship, the indictment said.
According to the document, during the sting operation, Yang also sent Jose a message containing two tracking numbers for a fentanyl precursor, which she said were purchased by her “Sinaloa client.” Sinaloa is the name of a Mexican state as well the infamous Sinaloa drug cartel, which is known to smuggle fentanyl into the United States.
The company used a crypto account to receive funds from the DEA agents. The indictment also said that Amarvel has never “registered with the DEA to import regulated chemicals” or “shipped regulated chemicals to any registered entity in the United States.”
Wang and Chen were arrested in Fiji during their second meeting with Gil, and Chen’s phone and computer were seized.
Chen told the court on Monday that she was “confused” by Washington’s allegation and Beijing’s rejection and didn’t know what was happening. She also said she was not familiar with the effects of fentanyl and thought Gil was joking about the claims his customers had died.
Alexander Nuo Li, for the prosecution, dismissed Chen’s argument on Tuesday, saying the VOA articles detailed the U.S. crackdown against fentanyl trade, including sanctions, and that Chen’s correction of an error by the court translator and her role in marketing showed her familiarity with the business.
Wang’s defense lawyer, Leonardo Aldridge, argued that the invoices and contracts related to the transactions showed the company was doing legitimate business, and accused the DEA or entrapping the defendants.
Li referred to the company’s offer to disguise the shipments of chemicals in his rejection that Amarvel was conducting legitimate business.
