(Radio Iowa) – Senator Chuck Grassley says congress must move carefully as it considers legislation to crack down on Chinese money laundering organizations. “Now is the time to make it harder for criminals to move dirty money and buy assets in the United States, not making easier,” Grassley says. “This complex money-laundering problem requires well thought-out solutions.”

Experts say underground Chinese networks are helping transfer money from Mexican drug cartels and international gangs. Just last month, five Chinese nationals were charged with money laundering after depositing money from drug deals in banks in Charlottee, North Carolina. Grassley cites a mass shooting at a medical marijuana farm in Oklahoma where workers were all Chinese nationals.

“According to Oklahoma law enforcement, 2,000 of the 3,000 licensed marijuana farms flagged for suspicious activity over the last year had a Chinese connection providing funding, labor, or both,” Grassley says. Grassley says legislation under consideration in the Senate would not adequately address money laundering by Chinese nationals and drug cartels because it assumes state and local regulations are preventing organized crime from infiltrating the U-S marijuana industry.