Dirty money piling up in L.A. as coronavirus cripples international money laundering
DEA seizing bulk cash amid the coronavirus pandemic
The Drug Enforcement Administration is seizing bulk cash amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has hobbled money laundering schemes and created a backlog of drug proceeds in Los Angeles.(Drug Enforcement Administration)
By MATTHEW ORMSETHSTAFF WRITER
APRIL 29, 20202:11 PM
Dirty money is piling up in Los Angeles. In the last three weeks, federal agents made three seizures that each netted more than $1 million in suspected drug proceeds.

The reason, according to the city’s top drug enforcement official: The coronavirus pandemic has slowed trade-based money laundering systems that drug trafficking groups use to repatriate profits and move Chinese capital into Southern California.

With storefronts closed, supply chains in disarray and the global economy in peril, these complex schemes are hobbled and cash is backing up in Los Angeles, Bill Bodner, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Los Angeles field division, said in an interview.
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https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-29/coronavirus-slows-money-laundering-to-a-crawl