Businessman Admits Laundering $653M In Drug Money Through Banks In NJ, NY, PA

Da Ying Sze, 43, of Queens said during a plea hearing in U.S. District Court in Newark on Tuesday, Feb. 22, that he deposited the cash into accounts in the names of shell companies and conspirators.

Sze said he laundered the money from 2016 to 2021 by buying bank checks, writing personal and business checks and making international and domestic wires to thousands of individuals and entities in the United States, China, Hong Kong, and elsewhere.

In return, Sze said he received a fee of 1% to 2% percent of the washed cash -- in other words, $6.5 million to $13 million.

Sze got help by providing $57,000 in gift cards "and other things of value" to financial institution employees in exchange for what U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said were "special benefits and to avoid suspicion and reporting of his unusual financial transactions."

Sellinger called the laundered cash total a "staggering amount of money."

New Jersey DEA Division Special Agent in Charge Susan A. Gibson said such an operation "allows drug traffickers to expand their operations throughout the U.S. and around the world.

“The actions of DA Ying Sze contribute to a high number of overdose fatalities across the country," Gibson added.

Rather than face trial, Ying Sze took a deal from the government, pleading guilt Tuesday to conspiring to commit money laundering, operating and "aiding and abetting" the operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business and "corruptly giving anything of value to an employee of a financial institution in connection with financial transactions."

U.S. District Judge Esther Salas scheduled sentencing for June 29.

Sellinger credited special agents and task force officers of IRS - Criminal Investigation in Newark; special agents and task force officers of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's New Jersey Division, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation – Office of Inspector General's New York Division, Morristown police and the NYPD with the investigation leading to the guilty plea.

The plea was secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. Pesce of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF)/Narcotics Unit in Newark, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan M. Peck of the Asset Recovery and Money Laundering Unit in Newark, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Angelica Sinopole of the Organized Crime & Gangs Unit in Newark.

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