HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — Five South Carolina homes are in the process of being seized by the U.S. Government in connection with a money laundering, drug trafficking, and terrorism scheme between Chinese and Mexican companies, a federal document says.
The document claims that the five properties have a total value of approximately $2,195,865.
One of the known potential claimants in the case filed by the U.S. Government is Ruiqi Zeng, a 24-year-old Chinese woman who was enrolled in Johns Hopkins University and is the grantee of four of the five Carolina Forest-area homes.
She came to the U.S. in July 2022 on an F-1 Visa and resided in Arlington, Virginia and Washington, D.C. She left the United States and returned to China in November of 2024, according to the suit.
Another known potential claimant is Liu Chuan, Zeng’s mother. She is the grantee of the fifth Carolina Forest property and the general manager of Sundia Chemical, which is located in China.
Sundia Chemical is a professional supplier for chemical raw materials, according to its website, and primarily sells chemical products, as well as importing and exporting goods.
The third known potential claimant is New Star Holdings, LLC, a subsidiary shell company of Sundia Chemical, according to the document. This company had at least two office spaces on the 2000 block of North Oak Street in Myrtle Beach from 2023 to 2024.
It is listed as a U.S.-based chemical importer/exporter, and Zeng is the registered agent.
The document states that this company is used to supply chemical precursors of methamphetamine to the Sinaloa Cartel, a transnational organization that was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2025. The company then launders the money from the sale of the chemical precursors back into the United States and conceals the proceeds in the form of assets, which are listed as the five homes in the Carolina Forest area.
According to the document, when the Sinaloa Cartel was designated as an FTO, it was said to be “one of the world’s most powerful drug cartels and one of the largest producers and traffickers of fentanyl and other illicit drugs to the United States.” The designation added that the Sinaloa Cartel “has used violence to murder, kidnap, and intimidate civilians, government officials, and journalists.”
The Sinaloa Cartel uses a Mexican company called Nortpacif as a front and importer of chemicals for, and on its behalf, for the manufacturing of controlled substances, the suit claims.
Two other companies are listed in the lawsuit, including Belkel, a Mexican company and importer of chemicals into Mexico. It is owned by Gladys Mynelia Kelly Romero, Jose Eduardo Kelly Romero, and Jose Carlos Kelly Romero, known as “the Kellys.”
The other company is listed as Sundia HK, and according to the suit, is an exporter and professional supplier of chemical raw materials to the global market. It is based out of the Sheung Wan District of Hong Kong.
The Background
Since at least 2015, Nortpacif has been involved in the production of methamphetamine and the distribution of precursor chemicals used to make methamphetamine in Sinaloa, Mexico. They have “utilized tradecraft consistent with that of drug traffickers” by addressing shipments to “other people,” as well as using shell companies to create separation between Nortpacif and the suppliers of the chemicals, the lawsuit claims.
Agents of Nortpacif had multiple meetings with chemical distributors, Sinaloa Cartel associates, and chemical engineers to negotiate the production, distribution, and sale of methamphetamine, the suit says.
In or around 2018, members of the Sinaloa Cartel, who were responsible for operating drug labs in Mexico, reached an agreement with the Kellys where the Kellys would provide chemicals to the cartel.
Nortpacif agents said that the Kellys were aware that the imported chemicals were going to or were for the benefit of the Sinaloa Cartel and that the Kellys profited millions of dollars from this business, the document explains.
Agents said that Nortpacif, which is owned by the Kellys, was aware of the large demand for chemicals and solvents needed to produce methamphetamine in Mexico, specifically benzyl alcohol. The shortage in Mexico was due to a combination of government regulation and demand.
According to the lawsuit, it is believed that by December 2019, Nortpacif established a relationship with Sundia Chemical so that it could supply Nortpacif the necessary quantities of benzyl alcohol and other chemical precursors needed to make methamphetamine.
Shipments begin
From January 2017 to September 2019, the Kellys used Belkel to import a number of chemicals into Mexico from various Chinese-based chemical suppliers on about 65 occassions.
Belkel stopped these importations in September 2019, in which it seems that the Kellys then shifted to using Nortpacif to continue getting the chemicals into Mexico from the same suppliers, according to the lawsuit.
Global shipping record databases reviewed by the Drug Enforcement Administration show that from Dec. 23, 2019 to June 19, 2024, Nortpacif imported 251 shipments of precursor chemicals, including benzyl alcohol, from China. The approximate value of these shipments totaled $24 million.
Between July 2020 and Sept. 9, 2022, Sundia HK sent Nortpacif approximately 25 shipments of chemicals, including benzyl alcohol, which weighed about 2,411,672 pounds with a value of roughly $2,103,132.
Then, between November 2023 and May 2025, Sundia HK sent at least 116 more shipments of chemicals, including benzyl alcohol, to Nortpacif exclusively through its Myrtle Beach-based shell company, New Star.
Commercially available global shipping record databases show that New Star shipped 116 of the 118 shipments of chemicals it received during this time period to Nortpacif.
One of these 116 shipments was seized by DEA Chemical Express on May 30, 2025, in Long Beach, California, before it reached Mexico. The shipment contained approximately 111,113 pounds of dicumyl peroxide, a chemical precursor used to make methamphetamine.
New Star listed their “shipper” address on this specific shipment as one of the homes on Fort Hill Way in the Carolina Forest area, which Zeng is listed as the grantee of.
After this seizure, Sundia Chemical and the Chinese equivalent of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection received a notification from the CBP that the shipment was seized by law enforcement, the lawsuit says.
The Chinese government advised Zeng’s mother and general manager of Sundia Chemical, Liu, that although the chemicals she was selling were not prohibited for export in China, she should avoid shipping them outside of China.
After the seizure and these notifications, three of the five properties in the Carolina Forest area were put up for sale.
New star in Myrtle Beach
Liu wanted to start multiple businesses inside the U.S. to use immigration benefits related to those businesses to get her family members and Sundia Chemical and Sundia HK proceeds, out of China and into the U.S., according to the lawsuit.
In the “latter half of 2023,” New Star opened at least two office spaces in Myrtle Beach. The suit alleges that the company hired “fraudulent employees” and even decorated the space with signage, furniture, and computer equipment to seem legitimate in case a potential customer visited the office.
According to the lawsuit, agents believe that New Star was a front business used to hide money from the sale of chemical drug precursors and launder them into the United States. Liu and Zeng used this money to buy the homes in the Carolina Forest area.
While open, the lawsuit claims that New Star had no legitimate customers and had no inventory at the office. The New Star office in Myrtle Beach closed around the end of 2024.
The Money
While in the United States, Zeng opened two accounts, one checking and one saving, where she was the sole owner/signatory for the accounts.
Law enforcement reviewed the records of the first account held in Zeng’s name for the time period of Aug. 16, 2022 through Aug. 30, 2024. The opening balance of the account was $126,085.51 on Aug. 16, 2022. By Sept. 26, 2022, the account received its first wire transfer from Sundia HK.
From the opening of the account until Aug. 30, 2024, the account held $3,171,170.86, not including the beginning balance. The largest contributor to the account was Sundia HK, which sent 22 wire transfers totaling $2,484,125. Agents believe this money was made from Sundia HK’s sale of methamphetamine precursor chemicals.
Horry County land records show that Zeng used $1,279,865 of this money to buy three of the five Carolina Forest area properties on Sept. 12, 2023. This is an almost exact amount match that she made in withdraws on Sept. 7 and 11 in 2023. The account was cleared out on Aug. 30, 2024.
The second account Zeng held, which was under the name New Star Holding LLC, was opened on Sept. 13, 2023. Law enforcement reviewed the history of this account through June 11, 2025, which was when the account was cleared of all its money, totaling $9,502,969.35.
The account received numerous wire transfers during this time, most notably including 35 transfers from Mexican company Nortpacif totaling $5,100,325.71 and 13 from Sundia HK that totaled $1,666,281.90. The suit lists 25 other payors to the account during the time it was open.
Horry County land records show that Zeng sent money from this account to the law firm of Wilcox, Buyck, and Williams to buy the other two Carolina Forest area homes in 2024, one in May and one in July. The account was cleared the next year on June 11, 2025.
It is noted in the lawsuit that the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce said that Zeng had no reported income history and she did not file any claims for unemployment insurance while she lived in South Carolina.
Between March 3, 2020, and Oct. 13, 2023, Nortpacif sent 99 wire transfers to Sundia HK, which totaled $14,200,000. The lawsuit claims that this and the two accounts determine that New Star was a shell company operated by Zeng to launder money through the purchasing of the five homes.
The lawsuit also mentions that Liu’s son and Zeng’s half brother, Chuan Liu, is listed as a grantee on one of the Carolina Forest area homes.
Closing up shop
With three of the Carolina Forest area homes being put up for sale, the closure of the New Star office space in 2024 in Myrtle Beach, and the closure of the two accounts held by Zeng in 2024 and 2025, the lawsuit claims this shows Liu’s knowledge that the homes were bought using “illegal proceedings.”
The suit added that Liu may be trying to recover the laundered money by liquidating New Star’s assets, including the homes. It is noted that two of the properties, one on Fort Hill Way and the other on Calhoun Falls Drive, have not been listed for sale since their original purchase dates as of Oct. 23, 2025.
The lawsuit concludes by asking that a warrant for the arrest of the defendant properties be issued, and that the properties be condemned and forfeited to the U.S.
Count on News13 for updates on-air and online.