Teddy bears sales used for money laundering

By Christine Duhaime | March 5th, 2011

The third executive of a Los Angeles toy company, Meichun Cheng Huang, pleaded guilty to conspiracy today as part of a black market peso exchange scheme that laundered almost US$9 million for drug cartels in Mexico and Columbia using teddy bears and Topo Gigio mouse dolls. Huang was a co-owner of the toy company, Angel Toy Corp. Another co-owner and the Corporation’s accountant were arrested in Los Angeles in July. According to the indictment, Angel Toy Corp. directed Colombian and Mexican drug clients to drop cash off at the Corporation’s offices or deposit it directly into their corporate bank accounts. Corporate executives would then wire the funds to China for the purchase of toys that were shipped to Columbia and sold. The pesos generated from the sale of the teddy bears were reimbursed to the drug cartels.

Comments are closed.