Texas drug ring indicted for laundering $50k in crypto and 12kg of meth

Six men operating under the name “Loverbois” were convicted of selling approximately 12 kilograms of meth disguised as Adderall pills, as well as laundering between $15,000 and $50,000 in cryptocurrency.

Six men from Texas were sentenced to prison for running a darknet operation that involved illegal drug distribution and money laundering through cryptocurrency, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio announced in a press release on Oct. 8.

According to court documents, the defendants sold at least 11.98 kilograms of methamphetamine pills and laundered $15,000 to $50,000 worth of cryptocurrency each month from July 2019 to December 2020.

The drug gang used the dealer name “Loverbois” along with several other usernames and was processing around 20 orders per day.

The longest prison sentence was given to 26-year-old Hung Ahn Huy Phung, who is believed to be the mastermind who created and ran the Loverbois account. He was sentenced to 84 months in prison. Meanwhile, four accomplices were given prison sentences ranging from 60 to 75 months, and one person was given five years of supervised release.

Phung was believed to be the mastermind behind the operations, as he was the one who created and operated the Loverbois account, took online orders, and received pills from two accomplices. The group sold meth, which resembled legitimate Adderall pills, over the dark web and distributed them across the country using the United States Postal Service.

One member took on the task of packaging the pills for shipping and helped move and launder the cryptocurrency. The group laundered approximately $15,000 to $50,000 per month.

Loverbois’ online drug trafficking organization was uncovered and eventually captured by authorities when, through a series of transactions, they unknowingly sent pills to undercover law enforcement officers in the Southern District of Ohio.

A federal grand jury formally indicted the defendants in June 2021. The final defendant, Kevin Tran, was sentenced to prison on September 30.