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 News from Around the Americas | September 2007 
US Judge Denies Bail for Chinese-Mexican Businessman Zhenli Ye Gon
 Associated Press
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Washington - A federal judge denied bail for Chinese-Mexican businessman Zhenli Ye Gon on Friday and said he should remain in jail for another 90 days to give prosecutors more time to present evidence supporting a U.S. charge that he conspired to import drugs.
U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan agreed with a defense request to move Ye Gon, who has already spent almost two months in a local jail since his arrest, to a monitored cell in a longer-term facility so that Ye Gon can avoid contact with seasoned criminals, especially "Mexican gang members."
Mexican police raided Ye Gon's mansion in Mexico City in March and discovered a stash of $207 million (€150 million) in cash. Mexican prosecutors allege the money came from trafficking in a chemical used to make drugs. Ye Gon claimed $150 million (€110 million) of the cash belonged to Mexico's ruling party, and that he was forced to hold the money during last year's presidential campaign.
Ye Gon pleaded not guilty to the U.S. conspiracy charge after Drug Enforcement Agency agents arrested him in a restaurant in suburban Washington in July. He also faces Mexican charges of drug, money-laundering and weapons possession.
U.S. prosecutors said they need more time to digitally scan and translate 11 boxes of evidence provided by Mexican authorities, who hope to extradite the naturalized Mexican citizen to face charges there.
Ye Gon said the chemicals imported by his company, Unimed Pharm Chem de Mexico SA, were legitimate and were intended for use in prescription drugs to be made at a factory he was building in Toluca, west of the Mexican capital. But U.S. and Mexican authorities say he imported huge amounts of precursor chemicals from China to Mexico, where drug cartels used it to supply methamphetamine to American drug abusers.
Paul Leymon, a government lawyer, said the money in his mansion could not have been legally obtained because Ye Gon's company lacked the capacity to generate "those millions."
The judge scheduled a status hearing for Oct. 12 and another court appearance for Ye Gon for Dec. 20. |
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