PRC narco-launderer sought influence with President Trump
PRC narco-launderer sought influence with President Trump
Triads are laundering fentanyl cash for Mexican cartels. DEA believes Beijing tasks the Triad bosses to donate to Republican and Democrat leaders
He had multiple meetings with President Donald Trump. He also transferred cryptocurrency from Hong Kong while attempting to buy U.S. visas for Chinese criminals at $150,000 per document. From 2008 to 2020, as the U.S. grappled with an influx of narcotics from Mexico, he worked closely with Latin American drug cartels and transnational Chinese mafias, believed to be laundering billions in drug profits annually from cocaine, fentanyl, and methamphetamines flooding American cities.
Currently languishing in a medium-security federal prison in southern New Jersey is Tao Liu, an ailing Chinese narco-launderer who has been arguing for early release on health grounds, according to court records filed in 2024.
However, Liu’s arguments seem unlikely to succeed, given DEA agents believe he is a spy, and Liu’s case could expose the methods Chinese intelligence has used to infiltrate facets of North American politics by positioning Chinese mafia bosses, disguised as political donors, near successive U.S. leaders, from Bill Clinton to Donald Trump.
Liu, a Chinese national currently incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Fairton, New Jersey, is far from an ordinary money launderer.
The Bureau’s review of recent court documents, combined with verified reports by American journalists like Sebastian Rotella, suggests that Liu’s role within this international crime network serves as a template for understanding the nexus between organized crime and geopolitical intrigue — a cocktail of corruption, drugs, and espionage that presents a chilling glimpse into the most dangerous forces threatening U.S. democracy.
The Bureau also uncovered an unreported court document that suggests compelling links between Tao Liu and a Buddhist charity attached to the United Nations in New York City. Further investigation shows this Buddhist organization in New York linked to media entities in Canada that in turn demonstrate ties to Beijing’s foreign-interference arm, the United Front Work Department.
Since most of the court documents in Tao Liu’s U.S. government file remain sealed, it is difficult to differentiate between the drug trafficking and money laundering allegations and his suspected ties to Chinese intelligence.
As reported by Rotella, a former national security official commented on the Liu case:
“The theory is [Tao Liu] was gathering information and feeding it back to Chinese intelligence to stay in their good graces, allowing him to continue his criminal activities.”
Liu — who also faced Chinese police investigations for a massive cryptocurrency scam — fits the profile of many Chinese businessmen who evade prosecution by working for China’s United Front Work Department abroad, according to subject experts like Scott McGregor, a former RCMP intelligence analyst.
Rotella’s interview with an unidentified security official aligns with this model:
“His currency was influence. And the Chinese would use him as necessary based on his influence. And he was a willing participant in that.”
While Liu’s attempts to gain political power through bribery and influence peddling have been exposed, the broader implications of his case are still unfolding. This is what is known to date.
From Hong Kong and Mexico to Guatemala and the U.S.
At the heart of the case, U.S. prosecutors allege, are two men linked to the 14K Triad: Xizhi Li, a powerful transnational figure, and Tao Liu, a Hong Kong-based money launderer who came perilously close to the highest levels of U.S. power.