Date: January 6, 2023 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov SEATTLE — A Brooklyn, New York resident was convicted today in U.S. District Court in Seattle of conspiracy to distribute more than 1,000 kilos of processed marijuana, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Chee Choong Ng was arrested in October 2020, when eleven people were indicted for a coast-to-coast illegal marijuana trafficking scheme. The jury deliberated about four hours following the two-day trial. U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour scheduled sentencing for April 4, 2023. According to records filed in the case and testimony at trial, the investigation culminated in October 2020 with the search of more than 35 locations in Washington, Oregon, and New York. Many of the sites searched were illegal marijuana grow houses. Over the course of the investigation, law enforcement determined marijuana was being grown on the west coast and was shipped to New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky, Georgia, and Missouri. Chee Choong Ng served as a distributor on the east coast, picking up large loads of marijuana that had been shipped from west coast members of the conspiracy. Once received, Ng coordinated with other co-conspirators to further distribute the marijuana—including to Public Storage units in Pennsylvania, a stash house in Staten Island, and various locations in Brooklyn. Prosecutors introduced hundreds of messages—sent using the social media application "WeChat"—between Ng and another co-conspirator that showed Ng's sustained and knowing involvement in the conspiracy. When arrested, Ng had five different cell phones and a false identification that he began using after he was stopped with a load of marijuana in the summer of 2020. Prosecutors also introduced financial records showing Ng had taken in more than $140,000 in cash over the course of the conspiracy. The other defendants in the case have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced to prison terms of up to 60 months. This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multiagency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks. The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Seattle and Newark offices and the King County Sheriff's Office, with assistance from the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Joseph Silvio and Michelle Jensen.
