June 7, 2024 - NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – MAN FAI HO (“FAI HO”), age 61, of San Lorenzo, California, was sentenced on June 5, 2024 by United States District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo to thirty-three months imprisonment, a $10,000.00 fine, three years of supervised release, and a $100.00 mandatory special assessment fee after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a quantity of marijuana, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(C), and 846, announced U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans.

According to court documents, in July 2019, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office Agents learned that Vinh Nguyen and others, participated in a drug and money trafficking network that spanned from California to Louisiana.  Text messages confirmed that Nguyen worked with a supplier in California, who negotiated the cost and strains of marijuana with growers in San Francisco for Nguyen.  Nguyen paid for the marijuana by having other co-conspirators fly the cash to the supplier in San Francisco.  Another co-conspirator owned a shipping company that shipped the marijuana from San Francisco to a warehouse in Kenner.  FAI HO would then pick up the marijuana shipments from the Kenner warehouse and deliver them to various unknown locations in the New Orleans area and other cities throughout the country. 

This prosecution is part of an extensive investigation by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).  OCDETF is a joint federal, state, and local cooperative approach to combat drug trafficking and is the nation’s primary tool for disrupting and dismantling major drug trafficking organizations, targeting national and regional level drug trafficking organizations and coordinating the necessary law enforcement entities and resources to disrupt or dismantle the targeted criminal organization and seize their assets. 

This case was investigated by the Office of Homeland Security Investigations and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. The prosecution was handled by Assistant United States Attorney André Jones of the Narcotics Unit.
Source: DOJ Release