Ryan Knudson

The first has to do with a law in China.

There's a rule that limits how much money Chinese citizens can transfer out of the country.

The cap is equivalent to about $50,000.

The goal is to keep money in the Chinese financial system.

The Chinese government really began to enforce this rule in 2016.

Still, there's a lot of people who want to get money out of China.

A Wall Street Journal analysis last year estimated that more than $250 billion had left China in a 12-month period.

One way Chinese people get money out is by turning to a shadowy network of money brokers.

These brokers have bank accounts in both China and the U.S.

and can secretly facilitate currency conversion.

And for that service, they get a cut.

As demand for that service picked up, Chinese money brokers began searching for new sources of U.S.

cash.

And that led them to one business that makes a lot of cash — drug trafficking.

I see.

So because they have this other side of the market that is a revenue stream for them, they can undercut their competitors when they're offering their services in a cartel.

Oh, wow.

That's a big price cut.

The last case Julie worked on before she stepped down at the DOJ involved one of these Chinese money laundering networks.

The investigation was known as Operation Fortune Runner, and it was centered on the group's alleged ringleader, a man called Sai Zhang.