Ring Shipped More than 10,000 Drug Packages from New York and California, Used Cryptocurrency to Launder Proceeds

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., today announced the guilty pleas and sentencings of five individuals in connection to an indictment charging them with assisting or operating a dark web vendor that shipped more than 10,000 packages of cocaine, MDMA, Ketamine and other substances to customers in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. 

On April 3, 2025, NAN WU, 39, pleaded guilty in New York State Supreme Court to Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Second Degree and Money Laundering in the First Degree. Today, WU was sentenced to a minimum of 6 ½ years in state prison and 5 years of post-release supervision and forfeiture of approximately 20 bitcoin, 3297 Monero and $12,857 in cash recovered during the execution of search warrants.

WU’s associates PENG PENG TANG, 30; BOWEN CHEN, 38; ZIXIANG LIN, 22, and KATIE MONTGOMERY, 35; previously pleaded guilty pursuant to their roles with the dark web vendor “FireBunnyUSA,” through which, the indictment alleged, the ring laundered over $7.9 million, including over $3.1 million in proceeds using cryptocurrency exchanges. 

“The dismantling of this illegal drug trafficking operation highlights the ability of my office’s prosecutors and analysts to trace cryptocurrency and unmask those committing crimes on the dark web,” said District Attorney Bragg. “These prosecutions resulted not only in significant convictions, but the forfeiture of millions of dollars’ worth of funds gained from selling illegal and potentially deadly drugs. Whether on the dark web or on our city’s streets, we will root out criminal organizations who put our community’s health at risk.”

According to the charges in the indictment, court documents and statements made on the record in court, FireBunny operated from January 2019 to August 2022. It operated on multiple dark web marketplaces and described itself as an “old vendor with the best in QUALITY SPEED OF DELIVERY and STEALTH.”

WU originally based operations in Flushing, Queens, where he and his accomplices shipped more than 10,000 packages. Shipments went across the country, including into Manhattan. Between June 2021 and August 2022, undercover Manhattan D.A. investigators made 11 purchases from FireBunny, including for cocaine, MDMA and Ketamine, which were shipped to Manhattan.

The largest undercover purchase was 60 grams of cocaine for approximately $2,800 in August 2022.
 
LIN helped to ship the packages by purchasing shipping materials and renting U-Hauls and storage facilities.

WU moved some of his operations to Upland, California, in April 2022, before temporarily returning to Flushing in July 2022. TANG assisted WU with travelling back and forth across the country and coordinating financial transactions. WU used various aliases to travel from coast-to-coast.

Investigators executed a search warrant on WU and TANG’s Flushing apartment in July 2022. WU was arrested and taken into federal custody on an open warrant for prior drug charges. Investigators also recovered 1 kilogram of Ketamine, more than 1,200 MDMA pills, ½ a kilogram of MDMA in rock form, and other drugs and packaging supplies.
 
Phones recovered from WU and TANG contained extensive evidence of WU’s operation, including communications with suppliers concerning the importation of Ketamine and MDMA, and communications with customers on the encrypted messaging applications Wickr and Telegram. 
 
MONTGOMERY assisted the ring by providing advice through her role as a USPS employee.

After the July 2022 search warrant, FireBunny temporarily suspended operations. Eventually, CHEN continued WU’s work in California, until a search warrant was executed at his residence in August 2022.  That warrant resulted in the recovery of over 1.2 kilograms of cocaine, 2.1 kilograms of MDMA, 34 kilograms of Ketamine, 19 kilograms of psilocybin, and smaller amounts of heroin and methamphetamine.

In total, WU and TANG received nearly $8 million in Bitcoin proceeds and investigators found nearly $900,00 worth of cryptocurrency on TANG’s phone. Some of the money WU and others received was laundered by converting Monero – a form of anonymized cryptocurrency that is extremely difficult to trace or monitor – into Bitcoin. The Bitcoin would then enter cryptocurrency exchange accounts controlled by WU, TANG, and others.
 
Of the laundered money, over $734,000 was converted into U.S. dollars and laundered through U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange accounts, including accounts held by WU and TANG. At least $2.4 million in Bitcoin was sent to a foreign based cryptocurrency exchange and laundered in the form of Chinese Yuan.
 
Assistant D.A. Adam Maltz handled the prosecution of the case under the supervision of Assistant D.A.s Michael Ohm (Chief of the Major Economic Crimes Bureau), Jeremy Glickman (Chief of the Cyber Crime Bureau), and Judy Salwen (Deputy Chief of the Investigation Division), and Executive Assistant D.A. Jodie Kane (Chief of the Investigation Division).

Investigators Jacob Diamond, Alexandra Cinque, and Genesis De Luna provided assistance with the investigation under the supervision of Acting Chief of the Investigation Bureau Jonathan Reid, and former Chief Investigator Walter Alexander.

The Forensic Accounting and Financial Investigations Bureau (“FAFI”) also provided valuable assistance, including Forensic Accountant Investigator Wei Man Tang under the supervision of Irene Serrapica (Principal Deputy Chief of FAFI) and Robert Demarest (Chief of FAFI).
 
D.A. Bragg thanked the United States Postal Inspection Service, especially Postal Inspector Diana Chau, Homeland Security Investigations, especially Special Agent Michael Flood, United States Customs and Border Protection, and the San Bernardino County Sherriff’s Department, especially Sergeant Adam Salsberry, for their invaluable assistance.
 
Defendant Information:
 
NAN WU
Flushing, New York

Convicted:

• Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Second Degree, a class A-II felony, four counts
• Money Laundering in the First Degree, a class B felony, one count

Sentenced:

• 6 ½ years in state prison concurrent to 4-to-12 years in state prison
• 5 years of post-release supervision
• Forfeiture of approximately 20 bitcoin, 3297 Monero and $12,857 in cash

 

PENG PENG TANG
San Gabriel, California

Convicted:

• Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony, one count

Sentenced:

• 1 ½ years in prison
• 1 year of post-release supervision
• Forfeiture of approximately 20 bitcoin, 3297 Monero and $131,500 in cash

 

BOWEN CHEN
Baldwin Park, California

Convicted:

• Conspiracy in the Second Degree, a class B felony, one count
• Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony, four counts

Sentenced:

• 2 years in state prison concurrent to 1-to-3 years in state prison
• 1 year post-release supervision

ZIXIANG LIN
Flushing, New York

Convicted:

• Conspiracy in the Fifth Degree, a class A misdemeanor, one count
• One year of conditional discharge

 

KATIE MONTGOMERY
South Portland, Maine

Convicted:

• Conspiracy in the Fifth Degree, a class A misdemeanor, one count
• One year of conditional discharge

 

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