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

Six men operating under the name “Loverbois” have been convicted for laundering $15,000 to $50,000 in cryptocurrency in addition to selling nearly 12 kilograms of meth disguised as Adderall pills.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio announced in a press release on Oct. 8 that six men from Texas have been sentenced to prison for operating a dark web operation involving the illegal distribution of drugs and money laundering through crypto.

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

The drug ring used the vendor name “Loverbois,” along with several other usernames, and carried out around 20 orders per day.

The longest prison sentence was imposed on Hung Ahn Huy Phung, 26, who was believed to be the mastermind who created and ran the Loverbois account. He was sentenced to 84 months in prison. Meanwhile, four accomplices received prison time ranging from 60 to 75 months and one person got five years of probation.

Phung was believed to be the brains behind the operations as he was the one who created and ran the Loverbois account, taking orders online and obtaining pills from two accomplices. The group sold meth made to look like legitimate Adderall pills through the dark web and distributed them across the country using the United States Postal Service.

One member had the task of packaging pills for shipment and helped move and launder cryptocurrency. The group laundered around $15,000 up to $50,000 per month.

The Loverbois online drug trafficking organization were uncovered and ultimately seized by authorities when they unknowingly shipped pills to undercover law enforcement officers in the Southern District of Ohio in a series of transactions.

A federal grand jury formally indicted the defendants in June 2021. The last defendant, Kevin Tran, was sentenced on Sept. 30.