Ryan Knudson

Zhang has pleaded not guilty to money laundering and drug trafficking charges.

His case is expected to go to trial next year.

In total, 24 people have been indicted following the Fortune Runner investigation.

Half of them pleaded guilty.

The other 12 were either at large or headed to trial.

So you have taken down a part of this operation.

How big of a deal is that for the overall cartel and their drug trade?

Does it make an actual dent or is it just sort of like whack-a-mole?

How much bigger do you think this goes?

I mean, do you think that you took out a massive chunk of it or just the tip of the iceberg?

What do you think this will do to the rise of Chinese money laundering groups, though, and this whole two-sided market that Zhejiang was able to allegedly take advantage of?

That's all for today.

Monday, December 22nd.

The Journal is a co-production of Spotify and The Wall Street Journal.

Additional reporting in this episode by Justin Baer, Jason Douglas, Rebecca Fung, Patricia Kausman, Vipal Manga, and Brian Spiegel.

This, by the way, is one of our last episodes of the year.

Tomorrow we'll be back with a new episode of Camp Swamp Road.

Get excited.

And we've got a little treat for you next Monday.

But until then, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and thanks for listening.