Grand Jury charges additional Chinese nationals & pharmaceutical companies with drug trafficking & money laundering conspiracies, attempting to provide material support to a[...]

DAYTON, Ohio - A federal grand jury in Dayton returned charges against six Chinese nationals and two Chinese pharmaceutical companies in narcotics and money laundering conspiracies involving chemical agents used to manufacture and cut fentanyl. Three defendants are also charged with attempting to provide material support to a Mexican drug cartel.

"This new indictment marks the first time in the Southern District of Ohio that we have brought charges for providing material support to a Mexican drug cartel designated as a foreign terrorist organization by way of President Trump's Executive Order of January 20, 2025, and Secretary Rubio's February 20, 2025 designation," said U.S. Attorney Dominick S. Gerace II. "We are going after the entire chain of supply for these deadly drugs, from Mexican cartels and Chinese pharmaceutical companies to the high-level distributors on our streets in the Southern District of Ohio."

"The FBI is aggressively pursuing individuals and companies in China that are selling dangerous narcotics and working with terrorist organizations," stated FBI Cincinnati Special Agent in Charge Jason Cromartie. "We will continue to use innovative approaches to investigate those peddling lethal drugs as we work to protect our communities."

In September 2025, dozens of defendants were charged in the Southern District of Ohio in similar narcotics and money laundering conspiracies, including at least two defendants from the greater Dayton area.

According to the indictment returned today, the defendants openly marketed, sold and delivered various chemical precursors that they intended for domestic and foreign drug traffickers to use in the manufacture and production of fentanyl for ultimate distribution in the United States.

Drug traffickers use chemical precursors to manufacture fentanyl and other substances known as "cut" to increase the quantity of retail doses available for sale. For example, drug traffickers often "cut" fentanyl with medetomidine, an animal tranquilizer that is up to 200 times more powerful than morphine. Medetomidine has the potential to increase the yield of a single kilogram of fentanyl at least twenty-fold, producing millions of dosages for street level sales.

Three defendants also allegedly attempted to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization by selling chemical precursors and medetomidine to an individual who claimed to be a member of the Cártel del Golfo (also known as the Gulf Cartel), a violent transnational organization based in Mexico involved in drug trafficking, kidnapping, extortion, human smuggling and other crimes. purported

Those charged in the indictment include Chinese companies Shandong Believe Chemical Company Pte Ltd. and Shandong Ranhang Biotechnology Co. Ltd., as well as individuals Hanson Zhao, Gao Yanpeng, Xia Yi, Zhang Jian, Wang Zhoalan and Zhang Chunhai.

The companies allegedly used Zhao, Yanpeng, Yi, Jian, Zhoalan and Chunhai to solicit, negotiate, and secure payments for illegal cutting agents from U.S. customers. It is alleged the foreign nationals generally directed U.S. customers to pay for the cutting agents using cryptocurrency transferred to crypto wallets under the foreign national's control for ultimate deposit into financial institutions located overseas.

The defendants are charged with conspiring to manufacture, to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl mixture, which is a federal crime punishable by at least 10 years and up to life in prison. Attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization and international money laundering are crimes punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Dominick S. Gerace II, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; and Jason Cromartie, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division, announced the charges. Deputy Criminal Chief Brent G. Tabacchi and Assistant United States Attorney Elizabeth L. McCormick are representing the United States in this case.

China's Ministry of Public Security provided the FBI with critical intelligence that helped advance its understanding and investigation of Shandong Believe Chemical Company and its criminal network.

This case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States.

An indictment merely contains allegations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

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