[6] His criminal defense attorneys, Manuel J. Retureta, of Retureta & Wassem, PLLC,[8] and A. Eduardo Balarezo[9] vigorously litigated this Brady issue before the Honorable Emmet G. Sullivan. The fortune, reportedly found by the police on March 15, 2007 at his residence at Lomas de Chapultepec in Mexico City included the following: Confiscated along with the money were also: Nine persons were arrested, four of them of Asian origin.[20]. Ye Gon's name also came up in a money laundering investigation involving HSBC. Pursuant to this $1.1 billion announced Mérida Initiative, the Bush Administration eventually requested $500 million for Mexico in supplemental FY2008 appropriations, plus another $450 million for Mexico in its FY2009 budget request. That effectively means the Venetian actually lost $37.5 million as a result of Zhenli Ye Gon. Yong Ping was found guilty of producing of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, ephedrine acetate and n-acetylmethamphetamine, precursor drugs used to manufacture methamphetamine – or crystal meth … RELATED: One-Fourth of … Back in the 1996 , Zhenli Ye Gon … His story will absolutely blow your mind…. Columbia is still notorious as the drug capital of the world. In addition, the key Mexican prosecutors responsible for Mexico's charges against Ye Gon have themselves since left office. In total, Zhenli lost $85 million at the Venetian and another $40 million at a small handful of nearby casinos. A raid on Zhenli's home found guns and cash along with evidence showing he banked with HSBC and had been for many years. The petition also notes how many of Mexico's allegations of wrongdoing underlying the extradition request come from statements made by disgruntled and/or fired former employees of Unimed, and that the Mexican arrest warrant's listed "main accomplice" of Ye Gon has since recanted. Zhenli Ye Gon is Chinese-born Mexican businessman who owned a pharmaceutical company. [15] 2012, two brothers of Ye Gon, who had been arrested shortly after the initial seizures in 2007, were also ordered released from custody by the Mexican courts. Lozano was at that time Secretary of Labor when he was accused. Nevertheless, after Unimed's license to import pseudoephedrine and ephedrine products ended on July 1, 2005, it was alleged that Ye Gon and certain employees of his violated the law by continuing to import four unauthorized containers of pseudoephedrine or ephedrine precursor chemicals into Mexico in late 2005 and 2006. Renewed efforts by Ye Gon's lawyers to have him released on bail following the dismissal of his U.S. criminal case proved unsuccessful, and a U.S. magistrate judge ordered that Ye Gon must remain in custody pending a decision on whether the U.S. can extradite him to Mexico to face charges there. They were making money hand over fist off one of the biggest whales in gambling history. Zhenli Ye Gon was extradited to Mexico in October 2016. The U.S. prosecutor reported that "the [U.S.] government was told that the samples from the first two intermediate shipments sampled had been used up in the laboratory analysis." So I can only imagine what it must feel like to gamble away tens of thousands, or even a hundred thousand dollars in Vegas. Zhenli Ye Gon, a Chinese-Mexican businessman suspected of providing Chinese chemicals to Mexican drug cartels and being involved in money laundering since 2005, asked authorities at the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. And, not surprisingly, by the end of the weekend, I had blown through the entire refund. could either make enough money to … In an interview with the news agency AP, Ye Gon explained he agreed to keep the money in his home after his life, as well as those of his family, were threatened by members of Mexico's PAN party. The rest disappeared ‘ President Andrés Manuel López Obrador ordered to investigate where were the 205 million dollars that the Government of Felipe Calderón seized Zhenli Ye Gon. Ye Gon was said to be in the U.S. as he was supposedly spotted in Las Vegas at the moment of the seizure of the cash and in New York City afterwards. The money being paid the United States represents money sent to the Venetian casino by or on behalf of Zhenli Ye Gon, who at the end of 2006 or early 2007 was “the largest all-cash, up-front gambler the Venetian-Palazzo had ever had to that point,” according to the non-prosecution agreement. I literally found out about the direct deposit as I was on interstate 15, roughly halfway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Zhenli Ye Gon was actually not at the house when the raid went down and when he found out what happened he fled north, to The United States, of all places. [4][5], In 2007, Zhenli Ye Gon was indicted in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia with a single count of conspiracy to aid and abet the manufacture of 500 grams or more of methamphetamine, knowing or intending that it would be imported into the United States. Believe it or not, that's exactly what Chinese-Mexican meth-chemical kingpin Zhenli Ye Gon managed to do between 2004 and 2007. According to the Mexican authorities, Ye Gon's money is the product of drug-trafficking activities. It turns out that between 2004 and the raid in Mexico in 2007, Zhenli gambled away just over $125 million in cash mainly at The Venetian (which is owned by Las Vegas Sands corp). Ye Gon's name has also been referenced in connection with subsequent money laundering investigations, including one involving Las Vegas Sands. [7] Questions have also been raised by Ye Gon's defense experts about the methodology of the earlier testing of these samples conducted in Mexico's laboratories. 1 ("Altiplano") to provide him with "better" prison conditions. By 2002, he was running a supposedly legitimate chemical importing company called Unimed Pharm Chem. The casinos showered him with comped rooms, private jets, meals, cars, girls… we're talking comps that are beyond mortal imagination. Felipe Calderon denied connection with the money and said it was invention by Ye Gon to avoid prosecution. [23][24] An expert report filed in Ye Gon's habeas corpus case, authored by Georgetown University Professor of Latin American Studies Mark Chernick, has deemed this explanation plausible, given Latin America's electoral history of "clientelism" run by party bosses, and the unusually close nature of Mexico's 2006 Presidential elections. He said he would sue Zhenli Ye Gon. Zhenli Ye Gon moved from Shanghai to Mexico in 1996 to work in the import/export business. The company's CFO even had to address the Zhenli Ye Gon incident specifically during a quarterly conference call with investors. U.S. prosecutors reported that the seized cash had not been retained by Mexican officials as evidence, but instead had been counted and deposited into bank accounts. we all remember when they arrested the Chinese-Mexican citizen, how they had us, like a week, with that, or fifteen days. Yong Qing was Ye Gon’s business partner in a company established in Toluca with money from criminal activities, reported Proceso. On July 9, 2010, however, defendant Juan Llaca Diaz was declared innocent in a Mexican court, and acquitted of organized crime and drug charges. Low and behold, when they opened the door to a back bedroom, agents were shocked to discover a mountain of neatly stacked money three feet high and six feet wide. Yong Qing worked as part of a methamphetamine trafficking organization run by his cousin, Zhenli Ye Gon. The Insane Story Behind The Largest Drug Cash Seizure Of All Time – $226 Million Found In A Bedroom, How Much Money Does A Drug Kingpin Make? However Ye Gon asserts that he was forced by Javier Lozano Alarcón, Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare, to keep it at his home, and that this money would be used during Felipe Calderón's presidential campaign in 2006. He was betting so much money that the casinos were taking a risk by letting him play at their tables. In his habeas petition, Ye Gon has argued that in light of the U.S. case's dismissal, his extradition is barred by principles of international double jeopardy (non bis in idem). I don't want the Court to think that's what I'm saying because I'm not saying that. © 2021 Celebrity Net Worth / All Rights Reserved. Unfortunately, after the raid in Mexico city, not only did the money stop flowing but Zhenli refused to pay back the $35 million marker he had been given. Another suspected member of the organization, Fu Huaxin, was absolved of similar charges. I was depressed about it for weeks and the experience made me sort of hate Vegas ever since. The sum represents funds accepted by Sands on behalf of Zhenli Ye Gon, a native of China who is currently being held in the U.S. pending extradition to Mexico on … Jorge Joaqin Diaz Lopez, the lead prosecutor who swore out and presented Ye Gon's Mexican arrest warrant, submitted a "voluntary irrevocable resignation" in January 2009, following a Mexican anti-corruption initiative known as Operacion Limpieza ("Operation Clean-Up), although Mexico continues to claim that Diaz resigned for personal reasons. According to the evidence gathered by the DOJ, Ye Gon allegedly took steps to actively avoid detection of money … Somewhere along the way, Mr. Ye Gon allegedly began re-directing a portion of his imports from legitimate businesses to the Sinola drug cartel. Defense lawyers in Ye Gon's U.S. criminal case asked to view all of these seized materials, but they were never produced in the U.S. by Mexican officials. At a hearing on the same day, prosecutors admitted that one of their key witnesses had recanted. Zhenli Ye Gon. Zhenli Ye Gon (born January 31, 1963 in Shanghai[1][2]) is a Chinese-Mexican businessman currently under suspicion of trafficking pseudoephedrine or ephedrine precursor chemicals into Mexico from Asia. The police raid of Ye Gon's home and businesses in Mexico, on March 15, 2007, took place one day after a high-level meeting occurred between U.S. President George W. Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon in the Mexican city of Mérida on March 14, 2007, at which both Presidents announced plans to expand bilateral and regional counter-narcotics and security cooperation. The cartel then used these precursor chemicals to manufacture massive quantities of crystal meth which were then shipped to the US. Later, on October 22, 2007, the U.S. and Mexico jointly announced their "Merida Initiative," named after this city where both Presidents had met. They also noted how none of the four challenged shipments were listed as containing pseudoephedrine or ephedrine precursors, and that Mexico's government-approved chemist assigned to Unimed, Bernardo Mercado Jiminez, stated under oath that he did not know that the imported substances were prohibited under Mexican law, and that he advised Ye Gon, who is not a chemist, that the imported substances were legal chemicals not controlled or restricted under Mexican law. This caused increased scrutiny which showed itself at the HSBC branch in West Virginia. Every casino is obligated to alert American authorities to any suspicious transactions that may involve illicit money. The strange saga of Zhenli Ye Gon and the $207 million in cash discovered during a March raid of his mansion here shows no signs of ending soon. Pseudoephedrine and ephedrine products at the time were widely used in over-the-counter cold medications such as Sudafed, but could also be used by manufacturers of methamphetamine. – Largest Drug Cash Seizure Ever, Meet El Mencho, Latin America's Most Powerful And Dangerous Drug Lord, Billionaire Drug Lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, AKA The World's Most Wanted Fugitive, Finally Captured At Mexican Beach Resort, Former President Of Mexico Allegedly Took $100 Million Bribe From El Chapo, Rags to riches? ", Ye Gon was scheduled to go to trial on his U.S. charge in September 2009. It was the largest amount of drug money ever discovered in history. Zhenli Ye Gon Ye Gon’s legal team tried to prove that his imprisonment was illegal, but a court studied the case and rejected their motion. https://cavemancircus.com/2020/11/03/5-biggest-gambling-losers-of-all-time And while that may not seem like a lot to a massive casino corporation, the losses were actually a large enough to wipe out all executive bonuses at the Venetian for 2007. Zhenli Ye Gon, 53, was arrested in the U.S. in July 2007 after police found piles of cash hidden throughout his Mexico City mansion, totaling $205 million. The fortune, reportedly found by the police on March 15, 2007 at his residence at Lomas de Chapultepec in Mexico City included the following: [26], United States District Court for the District of Columbia, "Mexico, the DEA, and the Case of Zhenli Ye Gon", US extradites Mexican-Chinese businessman Zhenli Ye Gon. Bumper stickers reading "I believe the Chinaman" are for sale. Growing Up Sheldon Adelson Was So Poor His Family Couldn't Even Afford Rags. Smith.,[11] to represent him in his extradition case before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Zhenli Ye Gon was indicted in The United States in 2007, but after a series of witnesses recanted or coincidentally turned up dead, the case was eventually dismissed. From 2004 to 2007 this Chinese-Mexican businessman lost a hefty $125 million, mainly at the Las Vegas Sands Casino. That house was owned by a businessman named Zhenli Ye Gon. For two years, the Justice Department gathered evidence showing that Chinese-Mexican businessman Zhenli Ye Gon had deposited $45 million in suspected drug money to … More than a few Mexican would like to know what happened to the 205 million dollars (in US dollars, Euros and Mexican pesos) seized from Mexican-Chinese businessman Zhenli Ye Gon. [1] In more than six years since the original seizures and arrests, no person affiliated with any of these events has yet been convicted of any crime, either in the U.S. or in Mexico. A Mexican federal court has sentenced Ye Yong Ping, the cousin of alleged drug kingpin Zhenli Ye Gon, to 25 years of imprisonment for money laundering and manufacturing methamphetamine. The presence of the Medellin Cartel has an important role… He became a citizen of Mexico in 2002 and was recognized as a wealthy business owner in Mexico before these allegations of wrongdoing arose. Or tens of millions… Or how about $125 million? He also does not dispute that he gambled away $125 million in Las Vegas. He proceeded to not only blow the entire $45 million, but an additional $35 million he received on credit from the casino. He was soon after arrested for allegedly contributing to the Mexican drug trade. Or millions. The story of the largest drug cash seizure of all time involves a 44 year old Chinese businessman named Zhenli Ye Gon. Accused: The money transfers were made by Chinese-Mexican businessman Zhenli Ye Gon, pictured Ye Gon wire transferred money to the casino from banks and money exchange houses in … 1 ("Altiplano") to provide him with "better" prison conditions. My first reaction was to just pretend the money didn't exist all weekend. Only 4 of Unimed's 291 imported shipments (from Canada, China, England, Germany, Israel, Hong Kong and the United States) into Mexico have ever been questioned. On February 9, 2011, Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola certified Ye Gon's extraditability to Mexico to face charges there.[12]. The sum represents funds accepted by Sands on behalf of Zhenli Ye Gon, a native of China who is currently being held in the U.S. pending extradition to Mexico on … [14] On December 5 United Pharm Chem had seen 19,497 kilos of a product that Mexican authorities claimed contained a controlled precursor chemical seized. Zhenli Ye Gon is currently accused of money laundering and is … Two years later, the U.S. case was dismissed with prejudice by The United States District Court for the District of Columbia, in August 2009. So how does this saga connect back to Las Vegas? On June 22, 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss its case against Ye Gon, citing Mexico's interests as well as evidential concerns. The money that the Sands agreed to pay the government represents the amount it received from Zhenli Ye Gon, a Chinese businessman with a … The money had been deposited in the Sands-operated Venetian-Palazzo casino by Zhenli Ye Gon, 50, a Shanghai-born high-stakes gambler who became a Mexican citizen in 2002. [3], Ye Gon was extradited to Mexico in October, 2016, after fighting extradition to Mexico for nine years while incarcerated in the United States. For a while, Zhenli was by far and away the largest all-cash-upfront gambler in the history of Las Vegas and thanks to these unprecedented losses, the casinos treated him like a God. Zhenli Ye Gon told The Associated Press that most of the money belonged to Mexico’s ruling party. [25], A poll by the daily newspaper Diario Reforma found that most Mexicans either buy Ye Gon's story that he was framed by government officials or believe neither side. Earlier this week, The Las Vegas Sands corporation was fined $47.4 million by the US Attorney's office for failing to alert authorities to Zhenli Ye Gon's very suspicious gambling activities. By early 2007, Ye Gon was ‘the largest all-cash, up-front gambler the Venetian-Palazzo had ever had,’ the DOJ said. Mexico's Judiciary Council issued a statement noting that prosecutors had failed to prove key parts of their case, including that the substance seized was a psychotropic or narcotic drug. In March 2007, authorities raided the home of Zhenli Ye Gon, a pharmaceuticals magnate based in Mexico City. After his initial examination in Mexican custody, Ye Gon's lawyer Rogelio de la Garza stated on October 21, 2016 that his client was calm and looking forward to demonstrating that there was nothing illegal about the money found at his home. Diaz's boss at the time, Noe Ramirez Mandujano - who served as the head of Mexico's national organized crime unit - was himself later criminally charged and jailed in November 2008, after allegedly receiving $500,000 in exchange for providing sensitive information to drug cartels in Mexico. Many seized contents of Ye Gon's home, located in Mexico City's suburb of Lomas de Chapultepec, were subsequently auctioned off by Mexican officials. Samples taken from the four challenged shipments by Mexican officials were never turned over to U.S. authorities for independent testing, as Ye Gon's U.S. defense counsel had requested. At his house in the plush suburb of Lomas de … Zhenli Ye Gon’s home in the affluent Bosques de las Lomas neighborhood was seized by federal authorities in 2007. Discuss Settlement in Money-Laundering Probe", "Mexico accuses drug suspect of blackmail", "Zhenli Ye Gon confía en su inocencia: Abogado", "In Tale of Millionaire Drug Suspect, Mexicans Judge Government Guilty", One ton of cash (Article in German language: Eine Tonne Cash), Cartel: The Coming Invasion of Mexico's Drug Wars, El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency, Manhunt of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán (2001–2014), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zhenli_Ye_Gon&oldid=1005359080, Articles containing Chinese-language text, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, A great amount of jewels, of unknown value, Two Mexican-style dwellings of approximately 20 million pesos, This page was last edited on 7 February 2021, at 07:41. "La PGR incinera productos incautados a Ye Gon", "Federal Judge Dismisses Ye Gon Case With Prejudice", "U.S. Court Approves Zhenli Ye Gon's Extradition to Mexico", "Milenio: Últimas Noticias de México - Actualidad global - Grupo Milenio". His story will absolutely blow your mind. During his U.S. proceedings, Ye Gon's lawyers pointed out the incongruity of Unimed allegedly importing unfinished pseudoephedrine products while it still had on hand almost 10 metric tons of finished pseudoephedrine products, which had been sitting idly for years, and could have been diverted if criminal activity had been contemplated. [6] From the date of his arrest, Ye Gon has always maintained that he is not guilty. Zhenli admitted that the money was from the Sinola cartel and further claimed it was to be used in Calderon's upcoming re-election campaign. [10] Judge Sullivan also noted how "this court made numerous inquiries of government counsel as to just what the status of the requests were to get drug samples for testing purposes, to provide evidence for the prosecution, and basically ... Mexico just snubbed the United States.". The fourth shipment had been seized by Mexican officials in its entirety, but its contents too apparently have now been destroyed. Which is particularly crazy when you consider that he doesn't dispute the allegation that he earned $350 million over a three year period while running Unimed. Prior to the Mexican government's enforcement actions, Ye Gon was openly building a state-of-the-art pharmaceutical plant in Toluca, Mexico, and in his federal court proceedings, the U.S. prosecutor referred to Ye Gon as "a very sophisticated businessman.". When he reached the US, Zhenli claimed he was forced to hold on to the $207 million by a Cabinet member of Mexico's then President Filipe Calderon. As of September 2013, he is still fighting extradition to Mexico. Mexican federal authorities denied a writ of amparo issued by Zhenli Ye Gon, a Chinese-Mexican businessman suspected of providing Chinese chemicals to Mexican drug cartels and being involved in money laundering since 2005. In July 2007, the U.S. government filed an indictment charging that the importation of these four shipments into Mexico was part of a conspiracy to aid and abet the importation of methamphetamine into the United States. To make matters worse, earlier this week the US government fined the Las Vegas Sands $47.4 million for not reporting Zhenli's suspicious transactions. Mexican federal authorities denied a writ of amparo issued by Zhenli Ye Gon, a Chinese-Mexican businessman suspected of providing Chinese chemicals to Mexican drug cartels and being involved in money laundering since 2005. He is the owner and legal representative of Unimed Pharm Chem México, as well as various other Mexican corporations. [2]. After securing the property, the agents proceeded to check the residence room by room. In light of Government admissions that "Mexico has not set out to prove ... That Ye Gon mass produced methamphetamine itself," Ye Gon has also claimed that extradition is improper under the legal requirement of dual criminality (since the alleged precursor chemicals imported into Mexico are not controlled substances in the U.S.), and other barriers. Two Chinese citizens (Yen Yongging and Fu Huaxin) were apprehended along with others[13] on July 23, 2007. During the auction, the government obtained MXN $181 million and Zhenli Ye Gon didn't try to prevent the auction. They are believed to have laundered money for two cartels Published on Friday, June 8, 2018 He's no stranger to money laundering scandals, though. Chinese-Mexican drug kingpin Zhenli Ye Gon blew away $125 million in a handful of Vegas casinos between 2004 and 2007. In March 2007, authorities raided the home of Zhenli Ye Gon, a pharmaceuticals magnate based in Mexico City.
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