The Kingpin

The US offers a $5 million bounty for my old pal

Ye Chuan Fa in 2004

Much of my book Fentanyl, Inc. is dedicated to investigating a Wuhan-based chemical company called Yuancheng. I determined they sell more fentanyl ingredients than any company in the world.

For a while after the book’s publication, though, I thought I was crazy. The US government didn’t seem to care. This was surprising, considering how Yuancheng’s products have killed people across the US, how their main client is Mexican cartels, and how they advertise flagrantly on the internet.

But it turns out the US was investigating Yuancheng simultaneously. The Department of Justice just announced charges against the company’s 68-year-old CEO, Ye Chuan Fa, and the State Department is offering $5 million for information leading to his capture.

Last month the US Attorney’s Office also seized about 49 Bitcoin — worth $2.3 million — from a crypto wallet traced to him. Here’s more information; news reports call him Chuen Fat Yip, which is the Cantonese version of his name.

The announcement has made international news. It’s like an old pal has suddenly become famous. Back in 2018 I interviewed him at Yuancheng headquarters — an old hotel in Wuhan — along with two Yuancheng saleswomen who both called themselves Amy.

Along the way I did lots of digging on this guy. An employee said he was the richest man in Wuhan at one point, and he owned businesses ranging from restaurants to a company making plaster statues to a failed hot springs resort, which I visited.

Yuancheng purports to sell more than 10,000 different chemicals, and claims to specialize in synthetic cinnamon. But really their cash cow is fentanyl precursors, and, as noted in the indictment, anabolic steroids. Yuancheng sells perhaps more steroids than any other company, operating sites like anabolicsteroidssupplements.com. A salesman I spoke with named Sean had the Skype handle, “Sean SteroidHormone.

From the Mexican newspaper Vanguardia de Veracruz

Now people are asking if I will seek the $5 million reward. Ha!

The truth is, getting Ye Chuan Fa into US custody will be nearly impossible. The DOJ announcement follows an indictment that actually dates back to 2018. The fact that they have unsealed the indictment and are offering a big reward is a strong signal that US officials don’t expect to get him.

The only possibility would be if he traveled here, or to the country of one of our allies, and was arrested getting off the plane. Since his indictment is now public, however, he’s unlikely to do that.

As I type this, China has just responded to the indictments; predictably, they castigate the US for “wrong actions,” and warn they “will only interfere with Sino-US drug law enforcement cooperation.”

There’s little chance China will arrest Ye Chuan Fa. By all accounts he and Yuancheng are beloved by Chinese officials. In fact, the company has been showered in awards. From Fentanyl, Inc.:

In 2011 Yuancheng was honored by the economic commission of the province where it is located, Hubei, with an “Economic Construction Leading Enterprise” award, for “contributions to promoting the rise of the central region,” an honor bestowed by ranking province Communist Party members… In 2016 it was a finalist in a contest honoring Wuhan’s best entrepreneurs, in which it was called a “successful model for the establishment of high-tech enterprises.”

And so the status quo will be preserved. The opioid crisis will continue unabated.

But Ye Chuan Fa and I will always have our time in Wuhan together. And in case I ever want to reminisce, he’s only one call away.