United States v. Wei Qing Zeng

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. WEI QING ZENG, Defendant.

CRIMINAL ACTION No. 1:22-cr-10185-IT-6

United States District Court, D. Massachusetts

November 29, 2023

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

Indira Talwani United States District Judge

Defendant Wei Qing Zeng is charged with conducting an unlicensed money transmitting business in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1960 and conspiracy to launder money in violation of 18 U.S.C § 1956(h). Indictment [Doc. No. 38]. Defendant's Motion to Suppress Evidence [Doc. No. 136] seeks to suppress location data and all other fruits of a GPS tracking device affixed to his car and evidence seized pursuant to a warrantless search of his car. Defendant contends that the government obtained the tracking warrant for his car and conducted a warrantless stop and search of his vehicle without probable cause and that the search of his vehicle was also based on the fruits of the unlawful placement of the tracking device on his car. Defendant seeks an evidentiary hearing on this motion. For the following reasons Defendant's Motion to Suppress Evidence [Doc No. 136] is DENIED.

I. Background

A. The Money Laundering Investigation and Wiretaps

In 2021, the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) began investigating a suspected money and currency laundering operation in the Boston area. DEA investigators believed large-scale unauthorized money transmitting and money laundering (the “Target Offenses”) were occurring out of China Gourmet, a restaurant in Boston's Chinatown. Aff. in Supp. of Criminal Complaint (“Compl.”) ¶¶ 8, 15-16 [Doc. No. 1-1].

Through the investigation, DEA agents were able to identify telephone numbers used by various Target Subjects and conducted Title III^[1] wiretap investigations from: October 1, 2021, through October 30, 2021; November 18, 2021, through on or about December 17, 2021; and on or about February 10, 2022, through on or about March 10, 2022. Id. at ¶¶ 11-13.

Based on information obtained from the wiretaps, investigators believe that the operation out of China Gourmet provided Chinese nationals, who might otherwise be subject to China's capital flight restrictions, access to U.S. dollars (“USD”). Id. at ¶ 43. The Target Subjects allegedly “sold” those USD to Chinese nationals at a discount from the currency exchange rate between USD and Chinese Renminbi (“RMB”). Id. at ¶¶ 42-44. Customers received USD and then wired the equivalent value in RMB to Shi Rong Zhang or Qiu Mei Zeng. Id. at ¶ 44. Many of these alleged transactions took place in China Gourmet. Id. at ¶ 74-76, 79-83.

Additionally, information gleaned from the wiretaps revealed how the Target Subjects were acquiring large sums of USD, namely through the bulk sale of marijuana and bulk cash pickups-also believed to be illicit proceeds-from locations in the Brooklyn and Flushing areas of New York City. Id. at ¶¶ 17-41, 84-85, 105, 110-111, 120-122.

B. The Tracking Warrant Application

On March 2, 2022, the government applied for a GPS tracking warrant to be placed on the Defendants' vehicle (the “Target Vehicle”). In support of the application, Special Agent Brady O'Donnell submitted an affidavit, Aff. of Special Agent Brady O'Donnell in Supp. of Applications (“O'Donnell Tracking Aff.”) [Doc. No. 147-1], detailing the following information.

On December 8, 2021, Qiu Mei Zeng and an associate, Da Zeng, exchanged several intercepted calls. Id. at ¶ 42. In one call, Qiu Mei Zeng asked Da Zeng if he could “line up 10 or 11 for use tomorrow.” Id. Qiu Mei Zeng indicated that she did not need to pick up the “stuff” until the next day but could send the wire that night. Id. Later, Da Zeng called Qiu Mei Zeng back and Qiu Mei Zeng confirmed that she could pick up “10” (meaning $100,000, according to DEA investigators) the following day if Da Zeng provided her with bank account information for the wire. Id. at ¶ 43.

The following day, Qiu Mei Zeng called Da Zeng again and explained that her brother (who investigators believed to be Defendant) would pick up the money. Id. at ¶ 44. Qiu Mei Zeng then called Defendant and asked him about his plans for the day. Id. at ¶ 45. Defendant explained that he planned to make two stops on Long Island, and two stops in Brooklyn, New York. Id. Qiu Mei Zeng asked if he could make an additional stop in Flushing, New York to pick up “10 units.” Id. Defendant expressed concern that he would be pulled over on the highway “like he had before.” Id. Qiu Mei Zeng agreed to ask a third-party associate to perform an additional pickup, because that associate had recently had 40 units confiscated by plainclothes police officers. Id. Defendant responded that it was safer to transport “smaller numbers” because there were too many informants. Id.

Based on intercepted communications between Target Subjects in which they discussed similar trips to New York, the government inferred that Defendant made multiple bulk cash runs into 2022, including a trip on February 23, 2022, to pick up “stuff” from either Brooklyn or Flushing at the direction of Shi Rong Zhang. Id. at ¶¶ 48-50. And on February 28, 2022, Defendant complained on a call with Qiu Mei Zeng about Shi Rong Zhang “ordering him to drive back and forth between Flushing and Brooklyn to pick up cash and cards.” Id. at ¶ 50. Investigators inferred that this was a reference to bulk cash pickups Defendant was being directed to complete. Id. Through visual surveillance, investigators were able to identify Defendant's vehicle as a Toyota Sienna registered to Defendant at his home address and which investigators had observed him driving, including in furtherance of the Target Offenses. Id. at ¶ 10, 50, 54.

Investigators also inferred that Defendant participated in the alleged money laundering scheme by delivering blank checks to Qiu Mei Zeng that were then exchanged for cash. Id. at ¶ 51. In February 2022, investigators observed Qiu Mei Zeng arrive at China Gourmet in her vehicle. Id. at ¶ 52. Shortly after, Defendant arrived in the Target Vehicle and called Qiu Mei Zeng to let her know he was there. Id. Investigators then observed Defendant exit his vehicle and enter China Gourmet carrying a bag; two minutes later he exited the building without the bag, returned to his vehicle, and drove away. Id. After Defendant left, Qiu Mei Zeng called an unidentified woman and told her that Defendant had “dropped off a stack of checks with no names on them for over $94,000” and that the checks would be delivered to the woman. Id. at ¶ 53. Qiu Mei Zeng told the woman to take photos of the checks after writing in names and send the photos to her. Id. Investigators concluded that Defendant used his vehicle to deliver the blank checks to Qiu Mei Zeng and that those checks were used as a means of exchanging currency and laundering money. Id.

C. The GPS Tracking and Subsequent Stop and Search of Defendant's Vehicle

On March 2, 2022, the magistrate judge authorized the tracking warrant. Aff. of Special Agent Brady O'Donnell in Supp. of Appl. ¶ 15 (“O'Donnell Phone Aff.”) [Doc. No. 147-2].

Investigators installed a GPS tracking device on the Target Vehicle that evening while it was parked near Defendant's home. Id. at ¶ 29.

On the morning of March 3, 2022, the GPS device indicated that the Target Vehicle was traveling westbound on I-90 from Boston in the direction of New York. Id. at ¶ 30. At 11:47 a.m., Qiu Mei Zeng received a call from an unidentified caller asking if her brother was “coming to pick up.” Id. at ¶ 31. She stated that he “already went down that way to pick up some merchandise” and that he would “put that thing under the merchandise.” Id. Investigators believed that Defendant was traveling to New York to pick up some merchandise for the restaurant and would likely also receive a large quantity of bulk cash that he was “planning to secrete ‘under' the other merchandise.” Id.

Around 2:22 p.m., GPS data placed the Target Vehicle as stopped near 28 Forsyth Street in New York, New York. Id. at ¶ 32. Roughly ten minutes later, the vehicle drove to 288 Grand Street in New York and remained there for over an hour. Id. The same unidentified caller called Qiu Mei Zeng again at 3:30 p.m. and told her that her brother “took 252 units” and directed Qiu Mei Zeng to wire the money. Id. at ¶ 33.

At 3:36 p.m., the Target Vehicle left Grand Street and headed back in the direction of Boston. Id. at ¶ 34. At 7:38 p.m., Qiu Mei Zeng called Defendant who indicated that he would be there (presumably Boston) around 9:00 p.m. Id. at ¶ 35. Qiu Mei Zeng told Defendant to be careful on the road and suggested that he bring the “stuff' back to China Gourmet. Id.

Around 9:00 p.m., investigators stopped the Target Vehicle on I-90. Id. at 36. Investigators searched the vehicle and found boxes of frozen meats and seafood and, underneath the meat in one of the boxes, a plastic bag containing roughly $250,000 in cash. Id. at ¶¶ 36-39. Inside the car investigators also found bank documents and receipts from a meat market located at 288 Grand Street and from 28 Forsyth Street, New York, the same addresses where the Target Vehicle had stopped earlier that day. Id. at ¶ 39. Investigators seized both the $250,000 and the receipts as evidence of the Target Offense. Id.

The vehicle also contained a cell phone in a phone holder near the radio. Id. at ¶ 40. Investigators called Defendant's mobile number and observed that the phone in the vehicle rang. Id. Believing that the phone was used to communicate with Qiu Mei Zeng and Shi Rong Zhang in furtherance of the Target Offenses, and to prevent the loss or destruction of evidence while obtaining a warrant, investigators also seized the phone. Id.

Defendant denied knowledge or ownership of the cash in the vehicle and made no other...