Vendor Chinodrug Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Conspiring to Sell Oxycodone on the Darknet

Category : Vendor News | Sub Category : Vendor News Posted on 2025-12-14 03:54:14

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United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Zhengchang Huang, aka “chinodrug,” Chihwei Lim, and Yang Yong, 34, a Chinese national who had been legally residing in Kent, Washington, was sentenced today to 180 months’ imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and a $1 million fine by United States District Judge Michael M. Baylson for conspiracy to distribute oxycodone. Judge Baylson also ordered the forfeiture of nearly 200 Bitcoins, worth approximately $22 million as of today, deemed to constitute or derive from the proceeds of Huang’s criminal conduct.

The defendant was charged by indictment in April 2024 and pleaded guilty this February.

As detailed in court filings and statements, Huang led a conspiracy to operate as the drug vendor “chinodrug” from the U.S. and abroad. Through the darknet, encrypted peer to peer communications, and other means, Huang and his co-conspirators in Asia and the United States sold millions of dollars of Schedule II controlled substances, primarily oxycodone, to U.S. buyers. The drugs were smuggled in from China using Huang’s large international network. They were later advertised and sold on the dark web.

These illegal narcotics were shipped via U.S. mail to customers in multiple states, including the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, in exchange for virtual currency. Evidence in the case indicates that, from 2018 through early 2025, the “chinodrug” organization shipped more than 15,000 suspected opioid parcels from Washington State to U.S. customers across the country, generating millions in illicit revenue.

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Drug Enforcement Administration and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jason Grenell.

The Investigation

The investigation into the conspiracy began in 2022 with an individual from Bucks County, Pennsylvania (“Bucks County Buyer” or “BCB”) who had been sending virtual currency allegedly worth tens of thousands of dollars to darknet marketplaces. From what I can see they became an informant to avoid money laundering charges. The Bucks County Buyer admitted to purchasing large quantities of oxycodone, through a darknet marketplace called ASAPMARKET(which has since retired). BCB had purchased oxycodone pills from Chinodrug approximately 30 times, and each time purchasing hundreds of pills and paying thousands of dollars in Bitcoin. The pills were shipped to BCB’s residence via the U.S. Postal Service

The Government’s exhibits showed Chinodrug’s marketplace page with customer reviews and a list of products offered for sale, including “ Percocet 5/325mg Oxycodone ,” “ Sevoflurane Ultane/Sojourn/Sevorane ,” “ OXYCONTIN, Mundi OC, USA, 80x10mg ,” “ Oxycodone Percocet 5/325mg Oxycodone ,” and “ *USA* 20 ct Oxycontin 40s Fully Crush-able, IV able, No Gelling .” In a posting from March 22, 2020, Chinodrug informed customers of its shipping procedures, writing: “We need your cooperation, so we can keep up our services for you for much longer time with safety and security… I only ship with USPS Priority Mail (takes 2-3 working days). -Stealth packaging is always provided. Products are hidden inside a decoy item. Please be on the lookout … and … The return address on the package is fake and is changed often, any returned package will be lost and will not be refunded/re-shipped.”

Analysis of the seized pills

The Bucks County Buyer had an order in transit from Chinodrug during the Government’s investigation. He alerted investigators when it arrived and gave the Government consent to search it. The package contained pills stamped with “Mundi Pharmaceutical” and Chinese language characters. The Pennsylvania State Police Laboratory confirmed that they were authentic oxycodone pills. Mundi Pharmaceuticals confirmed, by the lot numbers on the pill blister packs, that it had manufactured the pills for the Chinese pharmaceutical market.

Stamps.com

The Government examined the postage on the Chinodrug package and linked it to a Stamps.com account. The transaction history from the account showed “approximately 30-some packages” had been sent to the Bucks County Buyer, in line with BCB’s personal records. All the shipments to BCB had return addresses of Seattle-area businesses, like the package the government seized, and were shipped from the Seattle-area. The account contained over 15,000 similar shipments, with return addresses of Seattle-area businesses, mailed to addresses across the United States beginning around 2018″.

In response to a government subpoena, Stamps.com identified a shipping company that owned the account. The shipping company owner explained that he allows customers to use the company’s Stamps.com account and reimburse him for the postage. He had one customer who went by the name “Chino” and only spoke to him over the phone in Chinese. Chino only used the company’s services to purchase postage and paid for it by depositing Chinese currency into the owner of the shipping company’s Chinese bank account. The owner of the shipping company did not want to be paid in Bitcoin, but Chino frequently requested to pay in Bitcoin. On one occasion, the owner accepted payment in the form of about $500 worth of bitcoin.

Special Agent Gordon described this as “the key to the entire investigation.”

Using the transaction identification information of the Bitcoin payment provided by the shipping company owner, the Government was able to trace the path of the Bitcoin exchanged and ultimately identify the Bitcoin wallets owned by Chinodrug

“Special Agent Gordon used a software called “Chainalysis,” combined with subpoenas, witness interviews, and other investigative techniques to begin to verify the origin and ownership of the bitcoin flowing through Chinodrug’s control. By tracking the flow of Bitcoin from darknet marketplaces and cryptocurrency exchanges into Chinodrug wallets, identified by the Stamps.com payment, the Government estimated approximately 200 bitcoin were in Chinodrug’s control and came from payments for drug trafficking. However, the investigators did not know who in the Chinodrug network had control over the 200 bitcoin. The Government presented their investigation, along with evidence of Mr. Huang’s criminal activities, to a grand jury to secure the indictment of Mr. Huang”,

Robbery

Using blockchain analysis, HSI agents began to identify the network of real people who were operating Chinodrug. They were first able to connect Mr. Huang, specifically, with the conspiracy when local police responded to the burglary of several storage units at a storage facility in Kent, Washington in February 2023. In one of the storage units, police found 83,613 oxycodone pills that were consistent with the ones recovered from the Bucks County Buyer’s package. The facility’s security footage from the days leading up to the burglaries showed Mr. Huang repeatedly going in and out of the storage unit, where thousands of pills were later recovered, wearing blue gloves and carrying bags. After the storage facility robbery, Mr. Huang fled the U.S. and went to Canada. Around the same time, Chinodrug posted on its ASAPMARKET page that there would be a delay in shipments. Mr. Huang continued to control the digital infrastructure of the Chinodrug organization from abroad. He returned to the United States in August of 2023, when he flew from Asia to Hawaii

200 Bitcoin seized

The Government executed arrest and search warrants at Mr. Huang’s residence in Kent, Washington on April 17, 2024, where they found Mr. Huang and other evidence of drug trafficking activities. Agents seized several digital devices including an iPhone, a computer that had the TOR darknet software, and a “Trezor” wallet, which is a password-protected digital device used to securely maintain virtual currency. Mr. Huang exercised his right to remain silent, so the Government was unable to get into the Trezor wallet. However, digital forensic examiners found passkeys for the Bitcoin addresses in the Trezor wallet in Mr. Huang’s iPhone, allowing the Government to access the approximately 200 bitcoin in the Trezor wallet and seize it.”

Buyers Targeted by LE (Matching names on orders to Bitcoin purchases)

Coinbase provided the government with records of customers who initiated transactions to one of the five Chinodrug wallets. These names were consistent with those found in the Stamps.com records who received Chinodrug shipments. Cash.App also identified the customers who sent money to Chinodrug wallets, pursuant to a government subpoena. These names were also consistent with those found in the Stamps.com records who received Chinodrug shipments.

About 140 of the bitcoin in the Trezor wallet were traceable to bitcoin wallets hosted by “HTX.com,” a currency exchange based in China, similar to Coinbase. The HTX account was controlled by Mr. Huang and used for Chinodrug’s trafficking activity.

Go!