Ryan Knudson

Then Yu left, but the agent stayed behind.

They asked the bank teller if Yu deposited more than $10,000, anything above that amount is supposed to get flagged by the bank.

By then, Yu was already on his way to another bank,

Investigators allege that Yu is part of a new wave of sophisticated money launderers, all with ties to China, who are laundering money for powerful Mexican drug cartels and operating at such a scale and efficiency that it blows traditional money launderers out of the water.

Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power.

I'm Ryan Knudson.

It's Monday, December 22nd.

Coming up on the show, the story of Operation Fortune Runner, a years-long push to bring down a Chinese money laundering ring.

Do you ever watch The Wire?

Julie Shemit spent more than 30 years working for the Department of Justice.

Over the decades, she developed an expertise on money laundering.

She's seen it all, from corrupt Mexican banks to dirty money in Afghanistan.

And Julie abides by an age-old mantra, follow the money.

You can swat bees, but you really want to find the hive.

Exactly.

For years, Mexican drug cartels have relied on money launderers from Latin America.

But in recent years, there's been an explosion of new money laundering groups with ties to China.

So many of these Chinese laundering groups have popped up that authorities have started referring to them by their acronym, CMLOs, Chinese Money Laundering Organizations.

And they are cleaning up and taking tons of market share from their competitors.

There's a few reasons why.