Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Delivers Remarks on Charges Against China-Based Chemical Manufacturing Companies and Arrests of Executives in Fentanyl Manufacturing
Washington, DC ~ Friday, June 23, 2023
Remarks as Delivered
Good afternoon.
I am joined today by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams, and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace.
When I announced in April that the Justice Department had taken significant enforcement actions against the Sinaloa Cartel, I promised that Justice 
Department would never forget the victims of the fentanyl epidemic.
I also promised that we would never stop working to hold accountable those who bear responsibility for it.
That includes not only going after the leaders of the cartels, their drug and gun traffickers, their money launderers, security forces, and clandestine lab operators. It also includes stopping the Chinese chemical companies that are supplying the cartels with the building blocks they need to manufacture deadly fentanyl.
We are targeting every step of the movement, manufacturing, and sale of fentanyl – from start to finish.
To that end, we are announcing several enforcement actions the Justice Department has taken to disrupt the flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals from China to Mexico and the United States.
In three separate indictments, we have charged – for the first time ever – four chemical companies based in China and eight Chinese nationals for the trafficking of fentanyl precursor chemicals into the United States.
These companies and their employees knowingly conspired to manufacture deadly fentanyl for distribution in the United States. As alleged in our filings, just one of these China-based chemical companies shipped more 200 kilograms of fentanyl-related precursor chemicals to the U.S. for the purpose of making 50 kilograms of fentanyl – a quantity that could contain enough deadly doses of fentanyl to kill 25 million Americans.
First, as outlined in the indictment unsealed today in the Southern District of New York, we have brought charges against a China-based manufacturer and supplier of fentanyl precursor chemicals, its principal executive, and two of its employees for their role in international fentanyl trafficking conspiracy.
As outlined in the indictment, we allege that the defendants openly advertised the sale of fentanyl precursors online and sought to evade law enforcement detection by using deceptive packaging. They went as far as to guarantee “100% stealth shipping.” And they provided proof of their success on their websites –including a screenshot of a shipping confirmation to Culiacan, Mexico, the Sinaloa Cartel’s base of operations.
The indictment also details correspondence and in-person meetings between the defendants and an individual purporting to be a fentanyl trafficker in Mexico with operations in the U.S.
In one message, one of the defendants responded to the admission that the chemicals were being used to make fentanyl, and that it was not safe, with: “I know.”
In another conversation – which took place earlier this month – two of the defendants allegedly discussed the need to take additional measures to protect themselves from detection and interdiction following a recent enforcement action by the U.S. government.
This was an apparent reference to the charges I announced against members and associates of the Sinaloa Cartel in April. One of the defendants indicated that the U.S. government had “seized some Mexican group” and “followed the routes to China” – which was “bad news for us.”
Over the past eight months, the defendants are alleged to have shipped more than 200 kilograms of fentanyl-related precursor chemicals to the U.S. in order to make 50 kilograms of fentanyl. As I said, this is a quantity that could contain enough deadly doses of fentanyl to kill 25 million Americans.
What the defendants did not know at the time is that the purported traffickers they were dealing with were in fact DEA confidential sources. And the 200 kilograms of fentanyl-related precursors they shipped to the U.S. were received by DEA agents.
Two of the defendants – the principal executive of the chemical company and one of its employees – have been arrested by federal law enforcement.
Additionally, in two separate indictments in the Eastern District of New York, we have charged three other companies based in China and five of their employees with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute fentanyl.
As alleged in the indictments, each of these companies also supplies precursor chemicals to the U.S. and Mexico, among other places, knowing they will be used to produce fentanyl or other controlled substances. Like the company charged in the Southern District of New York, all three of these companies openly advertise their products all over the world and guarantee that the products they send to the U.S. and Mexico will not be detected or intercepted. To fulfill this guarantee, they likewise employ deceptive and fraudulent practices such as mislabeling packages and making false declarations at border crossings.
But these companies also went a step further to evade testing protocols and relevant regulations: they added what are known as “masking” molecules to their fentanyl precursor chemicals.
Once these masking molecules are added, the chemical signature of the precursor is changed. That means, when it is shipped, it appears to be a new, non-fentanyl precursor substance.
Upon receipt of the shipment, however, the purchaser is able to easily remove the masking molecules and return the chemical to its original form as a fentanyl precursor. As alleged in the indictment, these companies not only produced and distributed masked precursors, but also provided instructions about how to remove the masking molecules upon receipt.
The actions we are announcing today should make clear that the U.S. Justice Department is accelerating our efforts to disrupt the manufacture and trafficking of fentanyl at every stage and in every part of the world.
Our agents and prosecutors are working relentlessly to get fentanyl out of our communities and hold accountable those who put it there.
In 2022, the DEA – together with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners – seized more than 50.6 million fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills. That is more than double the amount seized in 2021. The DEA has also seized more than 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder. Together, these seizures represent more than 379 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl. That much fentanyl could kill every single American.
We are also putting our resources to work to confront the public health challenges of addiction and substance abuse by supporting prevention and treatment programs.
The U.S. government continues to do everything in our power to disrupt fentanyl trafficking and prevent more of our communities from being devastated by the fentanyl epidemic. We also continue to strongly urge the PRC government to take decisive action to address the role that China-based chemical and pharmaceutical companies play in fentanyl drug production and trafficking. We stand ready to work together to address this global challenge.
I want to thank the DEA agents for the extraordinary work that they did on these cases and for the difficult work they do every day to protect our communities from deadly drugs. I am also grateful to the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and to the Office of International Affairs of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
I will now turn the podium over to Deputy Attorney General Monaco.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco Delivers Remarks on Charges Against China-Based Chemical Manufacturing Companies and Arrests of Executives in Fentanyl Manufacturing
Washington, DC ~ Friday, June 23, 2023
Remarks as Prepared for Delivery
Thank you, Mr. Attorney General.
Two months ago, the Attorney General and I pledged to employ every tool in the government’s arsenal, at every stage of the fentanyl supply chain, in every 
part of the globe, to protect American communities.
Today’s announcement is a down payment on that pledge. It breaks new ground by attacking the fentanyl supply chain at its origin: for the first time we are charging Chinese chemical companies and their employees for conspiring to manufacture and export fentanyl precursor chemicals and circumvent customs laws.
Fentanyl poses a singular threat not only because the smallest of doses can be lethal but also because fentanyl does not occur in nature—it is entirely man-made, and in potentially limitless supply.
So, with our partners across government and across the globe, the Department of Justice is working relentlessly to dismantle the global supply-and-delivery chain that floods fentanyl into American communities.
The fentanyl supply chain all too often begins in China, where the chemical ingredients for fentanyl are produced and exported by the ton.
We allege the Chinese chemical companies charged today combined scientific know-how with deception to circumvent customs barriers and ship precursors onto our shores and Mexico’s.
The cartels use those ingredients to manufacture fentanyl, which they then push into our communities—using social media to market pills and cryptocurrency to launder profits.
Today’s charges make clear that those who feed the fentanyl supply chain cannot hide behind the façade of legitimate business.
When companies and employees—including those in the c-suite—knowingly fuel the fentanyl crisis, they will be held to account.
We will expose them as drug traffickers.
So, let me be clear: the Justice Department will not rest or relent in investigating and prosecuting every link of the fentanyl supply chain, in every corner of the globe. There can be no safe haven.
As we have seen in our efforts to combat terrorism and cybercrime, we do more when we move together. That’s why continued collaboration with Mexico is crucial—and why we have dedicated more resources to support Mexico’s frontline fentanyl prosecutors.
And that’s why we’re strengthening our efforts to stem the southbound flow of illicit, high-powered firearms across our southern border—firearms that fuel violence in Mexico and empower cartels to expand their deadly drug trade back into the United States.
And that’s why we will continue to call on the Chinese government to hold PRC companies accountable for the global harm they are causing.
As today’s charges allege, those charged knew that they were breaking Chinese law—as well as our own.
More broadly, compelling evidence shows that PRC companies are selling vast quantities of precursor chemicals to the drug cartels.
The United States has urged the PRC to address the serious problem of illicit synthetic drug production and trafficking. We renew that call today.
This is a global problem that demands a global solution.
Finally, I want to say a word about the role of social media.
In these indictments, the precursor sellers brazenly advertised on social media platforms.
The Department has encouraged social media platforms to enforce their terms of service and remove this content.
We have encouraged social media platforms to work with us to address this public safety emergency.
We will continue to work with these companies so that they can better police their own platforms until they no longer serve as superhighways of drug trafficking. Several major platforms are now working productively with us on this, and we urge those who are not to join the fight.
Today’s actions are the result of the hard work of the women and men of the DEA, and the tenacious prosecutors from the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York.
It is a privilege to work with them.
Let me now turn to the DEA Administrator to offer some more details on this investigation.
Source: DOJ Release
