TYLER, Texas – A San Francisco, California man has pleaded responsible to federal violations in the Eastern District of Texas, introduced U.S. Lawyer Damien M. Diggs.
John Khuu, 28, pleaded responsible to conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to function an unlicensed money transmitting enterprise, and importation of MDMA earlier than U.S. Justice of the Peace Choose John D. Love on March 26, 2024.
In keeping with data introduced in courtroom, Khuu conspired with others to launder the proceeds of his drug trafficking group by cryptocurrency. Khuu imported and distributed counterfeit pharmaceutical capsules and different controlled substances on darkish net markets (DWMs) and elsewhere to prospects throughout america. Prospects paid for their purchases by transferring cryptocurrency, normally Bitcoin (BTC), from their DWM buyer accounts to at least one of Khuu’s vendor accounts. Khuu and his co-conspirators traded the BTC for U.S. forex and laundered and transmitted the proceeds by lots of of transactions and dozens of monetary accounts.
Khuu was indicted on Might 18, 2022, in the Eastern District of Texas and charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering. On August 17, 2022, Khuu was indicted in the Northern District of California and charged with illegal importation of a Schedule I controlled substance. On August 19, 2022, brokers arrested Khuu pursuant to each warrants at a residence in Backyard Grove, CA.
Khuu faces as much as 20 years in federal jail at sentencing. The utmost statutory sentence prescribed by Congress is supplied right here for data functions, because the sentencing can be decided by the courtroom primarily based on the advisory sentencing pointers and different statutory components. A sentencing listening to can be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the U.S. Probation Workplace.
This effort is an element of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Process Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level legal organizations that threaten america utilizing a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency method. Extra details about the OCDETF Program will be discovered at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
The circumstances have been investigated by the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Homeland Safety Investigations, San Francisco, and have been prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys D. Ryan Locker and Nathaniel C. Kummerfeld for the Eastern District of Texas, and Assistant U.S. Lawyer Charles Bisesto for the Northern District of California.
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