Chinese citizens stand trial for fentanyl-related charges in landmark US case

By Yong Xiong and Simone McCarthy, CNN

New York (CNN) — Two Chinese citizens are standing trial in New York for charges related to the illicit fentanyl trade in a landmark case as officials aim to crack down on the movement of the deadly drug and its components from China to the United States.

Defendants Wang Qingzhou and Chen Yiyi were apprehended in a sting operation in Fiji in June 2023, expelled from the South Pacific island nation and subsequently arrested in the US. Their trial began Wednesday at New York’s Southern District Court.

Their 2023 indictments were among the first prosecutions against Chinese nationals and China-based companies for trafficking fentanyl precursor chemicals into the US. Wang and Chen are believed to be the first Chinese nationals arrested and extradited on such charges.

Prosecutors say the defendants and the company that employed them, chemical manufacturer Hubei Amarvel Biotech, shipped more than 200 kilograms of illicit fentanyl-related chemical precursors to the US – a quantity that could make enough deadly doses of the drug to kill 25 million Americans.

Amarvel Biotech is one of a number of China-based suppliers of such precursor chemicals whose products – typically synthesized into finished fentanyl in labs operated by drug cartels in the US and Mexico – are fueling a drug crisis across America, prosecutors said in their indictment.

Fentanyl overdoses have surged in recent years to become a leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45. Over 107,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2023, according to government data.

In opening remarks on Wednesday, government prosecutor Kevin Sullivan looked to localize the case for the New York City courtroom, describing it as “about two people who agreed to ship tons of chemicals from China to the US to manufacture fentanyl, right here in New York.”

Alleging that Wang and Chen were hoping to help a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) informant build a drug lab in the city, he added: “They didn’t get the drug lab in New York, instead, they got arrested.”

Wang’s defense lawyer David Mou told the jury in his opening statement to “stay open-minded,” reminding them that “not a gram of fentanyl was produced” in this case, while claiming the chemicals in question were “insufficient to make fentanyl.”

Undercover investigation

The company – as well as Wang, an Amarvel Biotech executive, Chen, a marketing manager, and a third company employee Anita Yang, who remains at large – face allegations that they marketed, sold, and supplied precursor chemicals for fentanyl production in the US in violation of federal law.

Amarvel Biotech, based in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, has exported vast quantities of the precursor chemicals used to manufacture fentanyl and its analogues – which have similar, but slightly different chemical structures – while using a variety of tactics to disguise their shipments, according to prosecutors.

As part of a months-long undercover investigation, US law enforcement officers in May 2023 retrieved precursor chemicals for a fentanyl analogue that had arrived at a warehouse in Los Angeles. The chemicals were shipped from the defendants as a part of a deal with informants working with the DEA, according to the indictment.

According to prosecutors, DEA informants arranged two separate in-person meetings with the defendants under the pretext of arranging multiton shipments of precursor chemicals from Amarvel Biotech. They also met to discuss improving synthesizing techniques because the informant claimed to the defendants that fentanyl made from their product had killed American consumers.

In June, the informants arranged to meet Wang and Chen in Fiji to formalize a purported monthly, multiton order of precursor chemicals. Following the meeting, the two were taken into custody and transported to the US for prosecution.

If convicted, the two face a minimum of 10 years or up to life in prison.

While China and the US have engaged in joint law enforcement efforts to counter the flow of fentanyl, Beijing was not involved in this investigation.

In a statement to CNN this week, Liu Pengyu, the spokesperson for Chinese Embassy in the US, condemned the US proceedings, accusing US law enforcement of “ensnaring Chinese nationals” and calling for their immediate release.

“Such long-arm jurisdiction and bullyism that tramples on international law has further undermined the lawful rights and interests of relevant Chinese institutions and nationals, and seriously undercut the foundation for China-US cooperation on counter-narcotics,” Liu said.

Curbing the flow of fentanyl

Controlling the fentanyl trade has been both a cause of friction – and a rare point of cooperation – between the US and China within their broadly contentious relationship.

China has among the strictest domestic anti-drug policies, but some critics in the US say it has not done enough to help monitor or regulate purchases from buyers aiming to use Chinese-made ingredients to manufacture illegal drugs overseas.

US lawmakers have also alleged that China is subsidizing the manufacturing of materials that are used by traffickers to make fentanyl.

Beijing has rejected such criticism, accusing the US of “shifting the blame,” while pointing to its own strict drug control measures and efforts to further control production of related substances.

In 2019, China stepped up its crackdown on the production and sale of the drug, by classifying all fentanyl-related substances as controlled narcotics – a move welcomed by Washington. But US-China anti-drug cooperation later stalled amid disagreements on trade, human rights, the Covid-19 outbreak and Taiwan.

China and the US resumed counter-narcotics collaboration in late 2023. At the time, President Joe Biden touted a commitment from Chinese leader Xi Jinping to go after companies who produce precursor chemicals following Xi’s only US visit during Biden’s presidency.

Since then, China has built on earlier efforts to tighten regulation and curb production of fentanyl-related chemicals, including by adding new precursor chemicals to its controls.

Chinese authorities, however, have also pushed back against assertions that controlling precursor chemical production can fix the problem, as manufacturers can make minor changes to chemical compounds to synthesize related compounds and avoid violating regulations.

In an interview with CNN in September, Hua Zhendong, a deputy director of drug analysis with China’s Ministry of Public Security, described the country’s “arduous efforts” to control fentanyl and its success in reducing the manufacturing and export of finished fentanyl products from China.

However, “trying to completely suppress illegal production through controlling precursor chemicals is fundamentally impossible,” Hua said. “The most fundamental issue is still reducing demand.”

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