Los Angeles police seize huge cash haul in drug-linked raids

Police staged mass dawn raids in Los Angeles today, seizing at least $65 million in cash and other funds allegedly linked to money laundering for Mexican drug cartels, officials said.
Nine people were arrested during the operation that saw some 1,000 officers fan out in the city's downtown Fashion District, which one official called the "epicenter of narco-dollar money laundering."
One business targeted in the crackdown was alleged to have laundered ransom payments that secured the release of a US national who was tortured while held in Mexico, prosecutors said.
The notorious Sinaloa Drug Cartel allegedly beat, shot, electrocuted and waterboarded the victim in a ranch in Culiacan before a relative paid $140,000 for his freedom.

Police executed dozens of search warrants on businesses suspected of using so-called Black Market Peso Exchange schemes to launder narcotics proceeds for international drug cartels.
"Los Angeles has become the epicenter of narco-dollar money laundering with couriers regularly bringing duffel bags and suitcases full of cash to many businesses," said Assistant US Attorney Robert E. Dugdale.

In another case, three members of the same family were charged with money laundering and various immigration offenses linked to their businesses, Yili Underwear and Gayima Underwear.
Xilin Chen, 55, his 24-year-old son Chuang Feng Chen and 28-year-old daughter Aixia Chen face up to 100 years in federal prison if convicted.

"These arrests and seizures should serve as a sobering warning to companies that seek to bolster their bottom line by doing business with drug traffickers," said Homeland Security special agent Claude Arnold.
"You will pay a high price for your complicity.