A Weymouth man, Chengzou Liu, has been put behind bars for two years after pleading guilty to money laundering and marijuana distribution. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the 38-year-old was part of a sophisticated criminal operation involving multiple businesses used as fronts for laundering cash.

U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani handed down the sentence, which also includes a subsequent three years of supervised release. The charges stem from a larger conspiracy allegedly headed by Qiu Mei Zeng and Shi Rong Zhang, co-owners of China Gourmet in Boston's Chinatown, and Wonderful Electronics, a business situated in Hanover. In connection with the case, Liu admitted in December to laundering drug proceeds through the Chinese restaurant.

Law enforcement spotted Liu delivering hefty sums of money, in the tens of thousands, to China Gourmet on at least three distinct occasions. The U.S. Attorney's Office reported that around $170,000 was filtered through the establishments to Liu's accounts in China in just three weeks of October 2021. Liu's illicit earnings are said to derive from large-scale marijuana trafficking.

This bust is the result of a cooperative effort by several agencies, including the DEA, FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, and the Massachusetts State Police. Announced by Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and other law enforcement representatives, the decisive action signals the commitment of the federal and local agencies to uproot organized crime and drug trafficking networks threatening the community.

The investigation falls under the jurisdiction of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF). The program is an integral part of the government's strategy to dismantle top-level criminal organizations through a multi-agency approach. Although Liu's chapter in this case is closed with his sentencing, the allegations against his co-defendants linger, with their innocence upheld until proven otherwise in court.