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Witnesses told committee PRC complicit in fentanyl precursor flows and money laundering; they urged sanctions and statutory fixes
Summary
Panelists linked Chinese chemical production, online advertising and underground banking to fentanyl precursor exports and money laundering that feed U.S. overdoses. Witnesses urged tougher sanctions on implicated PRC entities, corporate transparency rules and statutory scheduling of fentanyl analogs.
At the House Homeland Security hearing, witnesses described specific transnational‑crime threats they say connect to PRC actors and called for legislative remedies.
Dr. Rush Doshi told the committee that approximately 200 Americans die each day from fentanyl overdoses and that China remains complicit, providing precursor chemicals, tax incentives and online marketplaces that facilitate precursor sales. He said, “They had the power to stop the precursor flow. They had the power to stop the money laundering … All that happens without any money transferring across a border.”
Doshi and other witnesses urged concrete steps: strengthen U.S. sanctions authorities targeting entities involved in the fentanyl trade (including PRC financial institutions), link progress on fentanyl enforcement to broader diplomatic priorities with the PRC in consultation with the administration, pass the Corporate Transparency Act measures to track beneficial ownership of shell companies, and enact the HALT Fentanyl Act (placing fentanyl‑related substances as a class into Schedule I under the Controlled Substances Act).
Witnesses emphasized that Chinese‑based online platforms and payment systems can enable money laundering that does not require cross‑border transfers in traditional ways, and they urged closer enforcement cooperation and targeted financial penalties to disrupt the networks enabling precursor production, sales and laundering.
Committee members asked staff to examine existing sanctions authorities and to consider legislation that would expand tools to freeze or penalize entities facilitating precursor production and financing.
