High-Stakes Casinos Used to Launder Millions in Cash

According to a CNN investigation that covered the review of hundreds of pages of court files and interviews with several sources from law enforcement, a group of underground bankers helped wealthy Chinese gamblers move large amounts of cash through Las Vegas casinos. 

Their actions became part of a wider federal case that eventually led to a historic settlement with Wynn Las Vegas.

Links Between Cartels, Prostitution Rings, and High Rollers 

The scheme centered on Lei Zhang, who was caught in 2019 while carrying a satchel of cash into a casino in Sin City. Federal agents described him as one of the several middlemen who supplied high-rollers from China with money to gamble at Wynn and other properties. 

The cash often came from criminal groups, including Mexican cartels and prostitution rings, according to investigators who spoke with CNN.

Strict limits in China on how much money citizens can move overseas have created a steady demand for cash among affluent gamblers visiting the US. To get around those rules, many turn to illicit bankers who buy cartel cash in the US and repay the cartels through Chinese financial channels that face no American oversight. 

Federal agents told CNN that this system has become a key laundering tool for cartels moving profits from fentanyl and other drugs.

According to investigators, some Wynn employees helped facilitate cash hand-offs in hotel rooms, bathrooms, and even vehicles. Court documents show the casino later acknowledged serious compliance failures. 

Wynn Accepted Non-Prosecution Agreement

Wynn agreed to a non-prosecution deal last year that required it to pay $130 million to the federal government. State regulators also fined the company $5.5 million. In a statement to CNN, Wynn Resorts said it fully cooperated, fired the employees involved, and has since strengthened its compliance programs.

The criminal case that helped reveal the casino’s role focused on four men: Zhang, Bing Han, Liang Zhou, and Fan Wang. All four pleaded guilty in 2020 to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. 

Prosecutors said the activity moved “hundred-million-dollar” sums through casinos each year. Sentences ranged from home detention to 15 months in prison, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars in forfeitures.

Federal officials told CNN the casinos, gamblers, and middlemen all benefited. Cartels converted drug profits into clean bank deposits, while gamblers gained quick access to cash, and casinos kept high-rollers playing. However, investigators warned that the system helped criminals hide vast amounts of drug money.

Plus, as Drug Enforcement Administration official Brian Clark explained, the boost in Chinese money laundering coincided with a drug epidemic that has led to the death of more than 100,000 people a year in the US, most of them from opioids like fentanyl.