Independent newsroom

Thursday, October 22, 2026

The File

Every claim traces to a primary source. Uncertainty is labeled. Corrections are public.

Courts · Thursday, October 22, 2026

Court gives Shu Jun Zhen nine years for laundering

The File desk · Oct. 22, 2026, 6:40 a.m. ET

Confirmed1 primary sources

Status

Confirmed from the Justice Department release on a sentence imposed Oct. 21, 2026, in the Western District of North Carolina. The prison term and the forfeiture are the court's, as the department reports them. The account of the laundering is the government's.
  • Confirmed
    Shu Jun Zhen, 31, of New York, was sentenced to nine years and ordered to forfeit nearly $23 million.
  • Confirmed
    The department said the organization laundered over $92 million, including drug proceeds.
A federal court in North Carolina on Wednesday sentenced Shu Jun Zhen to nine years in prison for her role in a money-laundering organization. The Justice Department said she must forfeit nearly $23 million. It said the organization laundered over $92 million.1
Zhen is 31 and from New York, the department said. The sentence was imposed in the Western District of North Carolina. The department said that the Chinese money-laundering organization moved illicit funds, including proceeds from importing and distributing illegal drugs, primarily through Mexico. The figures and the route are the department's account of the case.1
The release describes a sentence, not an open charge awaiting a plea.
Why it matters (Estimate). Estimate. Drug money has to be moved before it can be spent. The department says this organization moved over $92 million, much of it through Mexico, and that one participant will serve nine years and give up nearly $23 million. Those amounts are the government's, from the sentencing release.
The court that imposed the sentence, the department said, sits in the Western District of North Carolina.
How we know

Notes

  1. 1.Department of Justice, Oct. 21, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/prolific-chinese-money-launderer-sentenced-laundering-drug-trafficking-proceeds-following “Shu Jun Zhen, 31, of New York, was sentenced today in the Western District of North Carolina to nine years in prison and ordered to forfeit nearly $23 million for her role in a Chinese money laundering organization (CMLO) that laundered over $92 million in illicit funds, including proceeds from the importation and distribution of illegal drugs.” The release says the money moved primarily through Mexico. This is a sentence, not a pending charge.

What is still unknown or disputed

  • The other participants' sentences. Not in the sentences used here.
  • How much of the $92 million has been seized, beyond the forfeiture ordered from Zhen.

Primary sources

Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.

  1. Source 1

    Shu Jun Zhen sentenced

    U.S. Department of Justice · October 21, 2026

    Shu Jun Zhen was sentenced to nine years and ordered to forfeit nearly $23 million. The organization laundered over $92 million.

    https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/prolific-chinese-money-launderer-sentenced-laundering-drug-trafficking-proceeds-following

Ask this story

Answers come only from this story and its sources. Free test: limited questions per day.

0/300