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Monday, June 28, 2021

Mexican-Chinese Precursor Drug Supplier Zhenli Ye Gon May Face More Charges in Mexico and 40 Years in Prison

"Morogris" for Borderland Beat


Zhenli Ye Gon, a Chinese-Mexican businessman suspected of providing Chinese chemicals to Mexican drug cartels and being involved in money laundering since the 2000s, will likely face additional criminal charges. 

A tribunal court in the State of Mexico refused to accept Ye Gon's motion, which sought to prevent Mexico's Attorney General's Office (FGR) issuing additional criminal charges against him.

In 2020, Ye Gon sent his case to the Supreme Court of the Justice and argued that he should be released from prison because his charges had reached their statue of limitations. The charges were included in an arrest warrant issued against him on 13 June 2007 for illegal possession of firearms, but he was not formally indicted until 18 October 2016, overly nine (9) years later. 

However, the court decided that the charges had not expired, and confirmed that he is still being investigated for five counts of drug trafficking, two counts of organized crime involvement, and one for money laundering.

His organized crime involvement charge includes an aggravated factor because it was done along with drug trafficking. If convicted of this crime alone, Ye Gon faces between 20 and 40 years in prison. 

Background

Ye Gon was born in China in January 31, 1963 and became a naturalized citizen in 2002 under the presidency of Vicente Fox. The President himself awarded him his citizenship status; at that time, the Mexican government thought that Ye Gon was a promising pharmaceutical investor and entrepreneur.

But Ye Gon was reportedly working as a chemical provider for Mexican drug cartels. He was suspected of importing chemicals from a Chinese firm and selling them to gangsters in Mexico to create crystal meth.

In 2007, Mexican federales busted his mansion in Lomas de Chapultepec, one of the most-exclusive neighborhoods in Mexico City. In his mansion they found US$205.6M dollars in cash pilled in several rooms. At the time, DEA agents stated that the money seized at Ye Gon’s mansion was the "biggest cash bust" seen anywhere in the world.

Part of the currency seized at Ye Gon's mansion (2007)

"I was not in Mexico when the events of this operation happened. At home I had cash, dollars, Mexican pesos, euros and other foreign currency," Ye Gon said in his defense.

He argued that all his assets were legal and that he had invoices with their corresponding import taxes to prove it. Ye Gon said that he kept his money in his house because he did not trust banks and because at that time he was not allowed to open a bank account using U.S. dollars. In the past, he told reporters that the money was going to be used to finance political campaigns in Mexico.

Ye Gon was in Las Vegas when his house was raided and denied any wrongdoing. Authorities found it suspicious that he spent millions of dollars in Las Vegas casinos, often in a single night. American prosecutors tried to frame him for importing crystal meth, but his charges were later dropped.

He remained in U.S. custody until 2016, when he was extradited to Mexico. He is currently imprisoned at the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1 ("Altiplano"), Mexico's maximum-security facility.

Charges in Mexico

After his extradition to Mexico, Ye Gon sent a letter to a journalist stating that there were US$275 million in his house when it was seized in 2007. However, he argued that the Attorney General's Office only declared that there were US$205.6 million dollars.

Ye Gon said that Mexican authorities also seized more assets, included works of art, piano collections, exclusive wines and gold bars, which he claims were never reported.

The court stated that from February 16 to September 19, 2005, Ye Gon (as legal representative and shareholder of Unimed Pharm Chem México) received a US$9.4 million dollar transfer that he knew came from illegal origins. At least US$900,000 of this total amount came from a source that has not been identified yet.

Mexican prosecutors stated that the US$9.4 million dollars in question are different than the US$205.6 seized in his mansion.

Ye Gon is currently imprisoned in Mexico despite his multiple attempts to regain freedom through legal motions. He claims that the crimes he is imprisoned for have prescribed, but the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation determined that they are still in full effect and will now look to add more charges.

Sources: Milenio; Borderland Beat archives

24 comments:

  1. Ok so now a little debate.
    This man was caught with 200+ million (imagine how much they kept and didn't report ) who sold chemicals used to make drugs, probbaly to more than one cartel but could be just one. Now, Chapo for example is said to be worth a couple billion, which many people say is a complete lie and that he is no where near a billionaire at all. Given the amount of money this man had in cash in a home in Mexico do you think Chapo was more or less wealthy than him?
    Honestly I think drug Lord's make insane amount of money. Not just money being made in US but in Mexico also and all the other countries they sell work to. Europe is where the money is at though, bug money there and the Euro is worth more than a US dollar.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Chapo had crews all over Mexico he had to finance with trucks ,weapons, ammo, payroll, bribes to local police, mayors etc and military as well as big govt officials and generals. The money going out has to be insane. Its a surprise they have any money at all once they pay everyone out. Thats why these guys cant simply retire..they need to keep paying bribes and for protection and security etc. They cant just call it quits and hang out with their grandkids by the pool they gtta stay on the grind. Ruthless and extremely tiring im sure of it.

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    2. Dude these criminals are squeezed for bribes and if they don't pay up they are busted.

      The PGRs (attorney generals), top military and top police commanders, judges and politicos demand a piece of the action from the cartels. If they do not pay they are busted and more generous cartels get their protection.

      The fighting in Mex between cartels is because different top civil and military servants and politicos each receive their pay from different cartels.

      The middle and lower ranking military, police, politicos and government officials get a small piece of the action, but are often caught on the receiving end.

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    3. Zhenli Ghon> MZ> Chapo

      Zhenli and Mayo are the big ballers. They lay low and count the $$$

      Chapo is naco, starting shit w Arellanos and Juarez. He didn't understand business concepts so he beefed with everybody. Dumbass is now in a concrete box eating hamburger helper instead of camaron a la diabla

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    4. Im not defending el chapo hes a piece of shit but part of the reasons he wanted tijuana. Tijuana being in a great position for traffickers being the busiest border crossing between the usa and mexico plus tijuana has san diego a few miles away also los angeles and the entire bay area which are great west coast drug hubs also apparently sinaloa traffickers were allowed to move their drugs thru tijuana under miguel angel felix gallardo's reign as tijuana cartel boss. El mayo used move drugs thru there and many others that were eliminated by the arellanos one of them whom got his arms ripped off as a warning but still wldnt leave and ended up getting killed the hard headed bastard that he must of been. But also el chapo one of the few things as a trafficker that one has to give him credit for is that he cld move more drugs faster than most of the other traffickers as its been stated by many the colombians called him el rapido because by the time the planes sent from colombia were back in colombia the load the brought in to mexico was already accross in usa soil. And Phoenix was not the great hub for drugs that l.a. is or houston or dallas or atlanta or nyc or miami back in the days. But still el chapo was an asshole for starting wars in tijuana and in juarez and in tamaulipas. Tamaulipas war was brief when the original zetas under the cdg kicked their ass out quick fast. Other cartels werent so lucky for lack of sicarios the level of the original zetas and the fact that tijuana and juarez are so big compared to nuevo laredo.

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    5. Chinos make so much money in Mex. From raw materials for ice, mining, and all the cheap ass imports like swapmeet clothes and other crap.

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    6. 5:01 really good point. ...and the wheel and the cogs keep turning...the cycle never ends

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    7. Chapo was a broke biatch he paid his workers crumbs and didn’t make enough for his kids or wife to retire what a shame

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  2. Boy they took 73 million of his money, that somehow disappeared, while police were collecting the money out of the home. Wonder if he keeps the money after serving the time or Mexico confiscates it?

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    Replies
    1. Are you serious? Mex govt has already spent all of that money thats a guarantee most probably went into govt officials personal accts.

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    2. Dude that happens here as well. Rember a dude who had 10M in a storage and the cops reported only 7.3M

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    3. Imagine being a mexican cop and taking that day off…
      Someone should investigate where the cops that were that day, are now…. Some island in the south pacific probably

      Delete
    4. Imagine being a mexican cop and taking that day off…
      Someone should investigate where the cops that were that day, are now…. Some island in the south pacific probably

      Delete
  3. That’s a real OG CJNG member right there

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  4. What good is all that $$$$$$$$$$ and no freedom

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm holding that money for safekeeping the extra 73 MILLION ... I ALREADY SPENT HALF OF IT THOUGH

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  5. Que no salga esa mierda. Se aprovecho de la liberta. Ni delanto la jente china. We bringing Mexican judo to you China.

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  6. DEA agents have been complaining about how the Chinese government is behind the flow of precursor chemicals. This little bugger was certainly making a killing for his role. Serious fuck up to leave all that cash sitting in his mansion. If I had that much dirty money I'd disappear like a ghost.

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    Replies
    1. He did not trust the banks in Mexico.

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  7. Fry this chink.

    ReplyDelete
  8. We're taking his word that his stash was $275 million. That may or may not be true. Maybe he has his own reasons for inflating the number. Though I dont doubt that the cops skimmed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cops are known to skim, also gets the drugs for them to sell.
      What you don't know is the gwin Fung Lee kept record of money coming in, ya dig.

      Delete
  9. Hell send him to China. The magnitude of this crime will likely get him death by firing squad!!

    ReplyDelete

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