USA v Xiaofei Chen: Prosecuting illicit pill press sales
We will post relevant documents related to this case in our Prosecution Document Library as they appear in Pacer.
In December 2024 Department of Homeland Security agents arrested a Chinese national named Xiaofei Chen at a trade show in Las Vegas.
Chen, who works for a China-based equipment company, has been charged with knowingly selling presses to U.S. residents who were making controlled substances as well as the counterfeit M30 pill molds to do it. If found guilty, she'll face a maximum of four years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
Federal prosecutors rarely use charges related to illicit pill presses because these cases typically also involve controlled substance violations with more severe penalties.
So why file charges against this sales rep? This case, like several filed against foreign suppliers of precursor chemicals, is another brick in disrupting the fentanyl pill trade.
Pill press seizures in the United States
States in pink indicate that law enforcement has found a least one pill press making illicit pills. Click the red triangles for specific seizure incidents, January 2023 to the present.