Evidence Called lost in Case Against Millionaire Drug Suspect
A federal judge scolded prosecutors yesterday for producing little evidence against a Chinese Mexican millionaire arrested in July on charges that he conspired to import massive amounts of methamphetamine to the United States.
U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan cited the lack of evidence in refusing prosecutors’ initial request to keep Zhenli Ye Gon jailed for a year while they gather information from foreign governments. The judge agreed, however, to keep the 44-year-old founder of a Mexican pharmaceutical company detained in the D.C. jail for three more months to give prosecutors time to assemble their case.
“You say you have all this evidence, but you haven’t turned anything over,” Sullivan said. “The man was arrested two months ago. That concerns me.”
“According to the government, this is a big case . . . the
Ye Gon was arrested in Wheaton on July 23, after a March raid on his Mexico City mansion, where Mexican authorities said they seized $205 million in U.S. drug profits in his master bedroom closet. But Mexican authorities have not produced either the money or the meth-making chemicals they say they found headed for Ye Gon’s pharmaceutical company.
Ye Gon and his attorneys have argued that he was framed by Mexico’s ruling party, which had ordered him to store an illegal presidential slush fund. They say the United States hastily arrested Ye Gon without evidence to back up the Mexican government’s accusations.
Original post by Carol D. Leonnig

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