Zhenli Ye Gon
| Zhenli Ye Gon | |
|---|---|
| Born |
January 31, 1963 (age 54) Shanghai, China |
| Residence | Mexico City, Mexico |
| Nationality | Mexican |
| Citizenship | Mexico |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Alleged drug trafficking |
| Home town | Mexico City, Mexico |
| Zhenli Ye Gon | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 葉真理 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 叶真理 | ||||||
|
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Yè Zhēnlǐ |
Zhenli Ye Gon (born January 31, 1963 in Shanghai, China) is a Chinese-Mexican businessman currently under suspicion of trafficking pseudoephedrine or ephedrine precursor chemicals into Mexico from Asia. He is the owner and legal representative of Unimed Pharm Chem México, as well as various other Mexican corporations. From 2002-2004, Unimed had been legally authorized by the Mexican government to import thousands of metric tons of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine products into Mexico, as a part of its vast importation business. Pseudoephedrine and ephedrine products at the time were widely used in over-the-counter cold medications such as Sudafed, but could also be used by manufacturers of methamphetamine.
Audits conducted by Mexican officials between 2002-06 at Unimed showed no improprieties such as improper diversion of any such chemicals. Nevertheless, after Unimed's license to import pseudoephedrine and ephedrine products ended on July 1, 2005, it was alleged that Mr. Ye Gon and certain employees of his violated the law by continuing to import four unauthorized containers of pseudoephedrine or ephedrine precursor chemicals into Mexico in late 2005 and 2006. Only 4 of Unimed's 291 imported shipments (from Canada, China, England, Germany, Israel, Hong Kong and the United States) into Mexico have ever been questioned. In July 2007, the U.S. government filed an indictment charging that the importation of these four shipments into Mexico was part of a conspiracy to aid and abet the importation of methamphetamine into the United States. Two years later, the U.S. case was dismissed with prejudice by The United States District Court for the District of Columbia, in August 2009.
He is claimed to be a member of the Sinaloa Cartel, a charge that Mr. Ye Gon, who has no previous criminal record, has denied. He became a citizen of Mexico in 2002 and was recognized as a wealthy business owner in Mexico before these allegations of wrongdoing arose.
Ye Gon is currently incarcerated in the United States and is fighting extradition to Mexico.
In 2007, Zhenli Ye Gon was indicted in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia with a single count of conspiracy to aid and abet the manufacture of 500 grams or more of methamphetamine, knowing or intending that it would be imported into the United States. Federal agents arrested him in a Wheaton, Maryland restaurant on July 23, 2007. From the date of his arrest, Mr. Ye Gon has always maintained that he is not guilty. Prior to the Mexican government's enforcement actions, Mr. Ye Gon was openly building a state-of-the-art pharmaceutical plant in Toluca, Mexico, and in his federal court proceedings, the U.S. prosecutor referred to Mr. Ye Gon as "a very sophisticated businessman."
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Wikipedia