Matthew Cox

This was in conjunction with the Chinese-Mexican operation in Guadalajara, while there's still a parallel operation going on in Los Angeles, the black market, Peso exchange, standard conventional model.

Well, that really blew up in the early 2010s when there was an investigation called Operation Fashion Police that resulted in raids of over 200 businesses.

And this is all in Los Angeles.

You know, L.A.

is such a prime hub for money laundering because L.A.

's got the largest fashion district in the world.

It's got the largest jewelry market in the world.

Well, all of these have been embroiled in repeated money laundering scandals.

And so when they did the raids in connection with Operation Fashion Police, they recovered like $75 million from one company.

My money's just boxed up everywhere.

where they're just buying clothing and materials and shipping that to Mexico.

They got $35 million out of a house in Bel Air.

They got tens of millions out of an apartment in downtown.

Well, that 2014 operation resulted in the loss of nearly $100 million, but more importantly, it dismantled a lot of the Mexican infrastructure.

So now, who were the last guys standing?

The Chinese.

So suddenly, the Chinese black market payslip exchange became much more important because the Americans are drawing too much heat.

You can't be taking nine-figure losses while paying twice as much.

Whereas all you can do is take the money, put it in a Toyota Camry, drive it to the border and give it to the Chinese in Guadalajara.

Let them take care of it for half the price.