The 74-page complaint describes a law enforcement investigation that began in December 2019, saying multiple “business owners originally from China” who, on moving to Ohio, “became intricately involved with one another” created roughly 40 business entities that facilitated the “harboring, transportation, and employment of illegal aliens at various factories, and have developed a sophisticated money laundering organization.”
Fuyao said last year it was told by federal authorities that a third-party employment services company is the focus of the investigation and that its Moraine factory was not the target of the probe.
A spokeswoman for Fuyao declined to comment Thursday.
Money laundering is an attempt to disguise financial assets so the money can be used in illegal activities.
The filing presents a picture of business entities seeking to staff Fuyao and other sites with “individuals who illegally entered the United States.”
The complaint lists nearly 40 pieces of property such as Ford trucks, a Mercedes Benz vehicle, a rifle, bank accounts, real estate in Montgomery County and Butler County’s Liberty Twp. and more. The civil action seeks the forfeiture of the property to the federal government.
“Investigators discovered that these business owners created roughly 40 entities that augmented these factories’ workforce with individuals who illegally entered the United States, who are unlawfully present in the United States, and/or who are working without required employment authorizations,” the complaint states.
The filing alleges that workers were housed across the area at “family style hotels,” allegedly owned by business entities. Workers were transported to and from Fuyao’s Moraine plant and other factories in vehicles owned by the entities, the filing says.
Homeland Security and hundreds of federal and local law enforcement officers raided the Moraine Fuyao plant and 27 other properties across the region last July as part of an investigation.
Dayton Daily News reporters last year visited many of the properties raided by federal agents and spoke to neighbors who said they noticed odd activity for years including dozens of people packed into single-family homes with worrisome living conditions and being picked up in a white van at all hours of the day.
The federal complaint filed this week says in January 2023 law enforcement stopped a 15-passenger Chevrolet van after it left Fuyao. Of the 24 passengers and driver — who were Chinese, Mexican and Guatemalan nationals — agents could only confirm proof of work authorization and lawful status for three passengers and the driver, the filing says.
‘Money laundering operation’
The recent complaint, filed Wednesday, refers to the alleged money laundering organization as E-Z Iron Shop LLC, which is one of the involved business entities. It says E-Z Iron partnered with Fuyao in or around February 2020.
“The business owners have developed a sophisticated MLO (money laundering operation), which includes the business owners, their entities, their real property, and their vehicles,” it says.
The July 26, 2024 raid at Fuyao found approximately 148 people working for E-Z Iron who badged into Fuyao that day, all of whom had at least temporary authorization to work in the U.S., according to the complaint.
But Fuyao records show a significant number of E-Z Iron workers stopped coming to work 10 days before the raid, the filing says.
“Of the workers who failed to report after July 16, 2024, law enforcement was unable to identify any who had legal status and/or were authorized to work legally in the United States,” the filing says.
According to Ohio business incorporation filings, an E-Z IRON SHOP LLC was incorporated in February 2020, with Hengyang Zhu, of 333 E. Dixon Ave. in Oakwood listed as registrant/agent.
The complaint states: “Hengyang Zhu is a member of the E-Z Iron MLO and intertwined in its illicit operations and criminal activity.”
An attempt to reach Hengyang Zhu Thursday was not successful.
According to the Homeland Security narrative, Zhu is a signer on bank accounts associated with the E-Z Iron, as well as an owner of real estate at 5362 Watoga Drive in Liberty Twp. (Butler County) and one of the vehicles the government hopes to seize.
The complaint says the E-Z Iron MLO “engages in a pattern and practice of knowingly recruiting and hiring Chinese and Hispanic individuals to serve as workers, either as employees or subcontractors, at FUYAO as well as other locations.”
Messages left for two U.S. assistant attorneys were not immediately returned.
A spokesman for the U.S. Homeland Security Department declined to comment.
Fuyao operates a plant GM shuttered in late 2008. The company, which is based in China, launched operations there well before its official opening in October 2016. Today, some 2,000 people work there.
