SAN FRANCISCO — A group of Bay Area drug traffickers were worried federal authorities would soon be knocking at their door, but believed they’d found an ideal solution, according to court records.
The group had reason to fret: one of their ex-boyfriends had recently been arrested by the FBI while working as a courier for shipments of drugs and cash at safe houses located between the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Fearing he would spill the beans, they offered the man $100,000 per year to do his prison time and keep his mouth shut, according to prosecutors.
There was just one problem. At the time of this alleged witness pay-off attempt, in September 2022, the man was already working for the FBI. The result was federal charges against at least three members of the drug ring, and recent sentences for two of them, court records show.
Christina Nguyen, 29, who dated the courier-turned-witness, was sentenced to time served and supervised release after pleading guilty to a federal witness tampering offense, records show. Her cohort, 31-year-old Elliot Leung was not so lucky. He receibed a three-year federal prison term after pleading guilty to drug charges and surrendered to the Bureau of Prisons last month.
Federal prosecutors charged a third man, John Khuu, in Texas with laundering money and cryptocurrency, in relation to the investigation of the drug ring. Prosecutors say Khuu was involved with Leung and Nguyen’s schemes to sell fake Adderall containing methamphetamine and other drugs. Court records show he recently pleaded guilty to laundering and is awaiting sentencing.
The drug ring was vast, according to prosecutors. The group employed at least two couriers and used stash houses around San Francisco, including one where authorities reportedly found 15,000 counterfeit Adderall pills containing 13 pounds of methamphetamine. Agents also seized 760 pounds of marijuana and two assault weapons during the investigation.
When the FBI looked into Khuu’s money laundering activity, they found evidence he was involved in hundreds of drug transactions and Bitcoin worth $5.3 million in suspected drug proceeds, authorities said.
In August 2022, Nguyen’s ex-boyfriend was arrested by the FBI during a courier route, and agreed to cooperate. The man reportedly had others problems. In court filings, Nguyen’s lawyer wrote that he was “thousands of dollars in debt due to a Pokémon video-game addiction” and that she offered the money in part because she felt guilty that he was facing prison time.
“She makes no excuses and is beyond disappointed in hindsight at her absurd and plainly wrong conduct,” a defense sentencing memo says, further describing Nguyen’s life as one “marked by empathy, community service, and personal accountability.”
Similarly, Leung’s attorneys described him as a marijuana trafficker whose associates were selling harder drugs, as opposed to someone directly involved in methamphetamine sales. They wrote that his apparent willingness to pay off the witness was due to his desire to help someone in a dire situation. Leung also wrote an apology letter, saying he was led astray by people he thought were his friends during college, which led to his dropping out and a cascade of bad decisions.
“Going through this difficult time has shown me how to turn my mistakes into a chance to change. I’ve learned so much from my mistakes and am working to build a better life that I can be proud of,” Leung wrote. “These lessons have made me committed to not repeating my past errors and the shame I feel keeps me motivated to make smarter, more positive decisions.”
