NYC woman sentenced for laundering $20M in drug money through airline ticket business
A Queens woman has been sentenced for laundering more than $20 million in drug trafficking proceeds through the airline ticket business where she worked as an accountant, authorities said.
Rui Fang Yu, 40, was sentenced Monday to two years in prison for her role in a Chinese money laundering operation that ran from 2016 to 2020, according to court records and the U.S. Department of Justice. Prosecutors said Yu accepted large amounts of cash from co-conspirators who were laundering proceeds from heroin and cocaine sales in the United States tied to a Mexican cartel-linked drug trafficking organization.
Yu used her position at an airline ticket consolidator in Flushing to funnel the illicit cash through her employer’s bank accounts, officials said. The name of the business was not immediately identified.
Authorities said the scheme relied on trade-based money laundering, using sham transactions involving airline ticket purchases to disguise the origins of the drug profits. The funds were then transferred to accounts controlled by other co-conspirators in the U.S. and China.
In August, Yu pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering, federal officials said.
Her attorney, King L. Wu, argued in a sentencing memo that Yu — a first-time offender and legal permanent resident from Taishan, China — should have received probation or time served.
According to the memo, Yu is a mother of two who also cares for her elderly parents and expressed deep remorse for her actions. Her lawyer wrote that financial strain following the birth of her second child and reduced work hours left her feeling overwhelmed and vulnerable.
“In that period of vulnerability, she made the worst decision of her life,” Wu wrote in the filing, adding that Yu told herself she was doing a simple favor connected to business dealings. He said she did not control the money, did not direct others, and received only small payments for her role.
Yu also faces the potential loss of her green card and deportation to China, according to the memo.
Wu did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI investigated the case, authorities said.
About Post Author
