A New York woman has been sentenced to nine years in prison for acting as a courier in a Chinese money laundering scheme and laundering nearly $23 million in drug proceeds, according to the Department of Justice.
Zhen Shu Jun, 37, received her sentencing in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Oct. 21. Prosecutors said the Chinese money laundering organization that she worked for was responsible for laundering more than $92 million in illicit funds.
“Money launderers help drug traffickers evade the law by moving and concealing their profits, which is why it is critical that we investigate and prosecute them,” Assistant Attorney General Andrew Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in a statement.
Duva highlighted the role of Chinese money laundering organizations in facilitating the illicit drug trade, calling them “essential to its survival.”
According to a court document prosecutors filed earlier this month, Zhen spent most of her childhood in China before immigrating to the United States in 2007. She became a U.S. citizen seven years later.
Zhen began working for the Chinese money laundering organization in May 2022, according to the court document. She was then instructed to collect bulk cash from drug traffickers in several states, including North Carolina, Georgia, Maryland, Wisconsin, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
Prosecutors said Zhen used fake driver’s licenses under the names “Yan Feng Chen,” “Chunyan Li,” and “Meiqing Chen” to deposit the money into bank accounts of shell companies registered by other members of the Chinese money-laundering organization.
Zhen was arrested by state law enforcement in Philadelphia in July 2022, after picking up a bulk amount of cash, according to the court document. Despite the arrest, she continued working as a courier.
In April 2024, Zhen was arrested in Staten Island, New York, according to prosecutors.
Zhen pleaded guilty to money laundering charges involving drug trafficking proceeds in July 2025.
In the court document, prosecutors recommended that the judge sentence Zhen to nine years in prison, arguing that she was a “prolific courier” and a “key member” of the Chinese money laundering organization.
“The Defendant’s conduct arose from greed and seeking to make money despite knowing the conduct in which she knowingly and willingly engaged was illegal,” prosecutors stated.
Prosecutors acknowledged that putting Zhen and her co-conspirators behind bars would do little to curb other Chinese money laundering organizations’ activities on a broader scale.
“There remains, we suspect, an abundant pool of individuals ready to risk their liberty in pursuit of the cash these [Chinese money laundering organizations] offer,” prosecutors wrote.
Nonetheless, a nine-year sentence against Zhen would send a “strong message to others who may still be operating as couriers,” prosecutors said.
In addition to her prison sentence, Zhen was ordered to forfeit the proceeds she laundered.
Zhen’s legal representation was terminated on Oct. 21.
In August, one of Zhen’s co-defendants, Lu Jianfei, a Chinese national, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $25 million, according to the Justice Department.
According to prosecutors, Lu served as a “manager” for the Chinese money-laundering organization and procured fake driver’s licenses for Zhen and other couriers.
Four other co-defendants have pleaded guilty.
The case was pursued under the Homeland Security Task Force initiative, a program President Donald Trump established through a January 2025 executive order.
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