China-bound man to be charged with bulk cash smuggling

Probable cause has been found to warrant the filing of criminal charges against Delin Ma, a 52-year-old man who allegedly tried to conceal $20,000 cash in his hand-carried luggage while bound for a flight to Shanghai, China.

At a preliminary hearing on Thursday afternoon, U.S. District Court for the NMI Magistrate Judge Heather L. Kennedy ruled that the U.S. government has established probable cause to charge Ma with bulk cash smuggling.

Ma will be arraigned on March 17 at 9am.

Kennedy reminded Ma of the conditions of his pretrial release and advised him that if he violates any of those conditions, he may be arrested or held in contempt.

Ma, who posted a $10,000 secured bond for his temporary release, appeared with his court-appointed counsel Mark Hanson at the preliminary hearing. Assistant U.S. attorney Russell Lorfing represented the U.S. government.

At the hearing, Lorfing called to the witness stand Homeland Security Investigations special agent Michael D. Lansangan, who related to the court their investigation of a person that led to Ma’s arrest last Feb. 13 at the Francisco C. Ada International Airport.

Sichuan Airlines flight 3U-8648 was scheduled to depart Saipan that day and fly to Shanghai, China with no stops in between.

Under the currency reporting laws, a person is required to report any amount of $10,000 and over when traveling out of or into the U.S.

Langsangan said Ma told him he only had a little over $6,000 and a little over 1,000 Chinese RMB with him when asked. Ma also declared the same amounts in a CBP form.

When the excess money was found, Ma later allegedly said the money was not his but belonged to a person named “Zheng Xiaolong” who owned “L&M Market.”

According to Lansangan, Ma stated that the $20,000 retrieved from his luggage was given to him by his boss, Shaorong Zeng, who operates the LN Market.

Ma stated that Zeng told him she had borrowed the money from a person in China named Maiying Xu and needed to pay back the loan.

Ma stated that Zeng told him the two envelopes contained a total of $20,000, and asked him to deliver the money to Xu at her house in Putian, China.

Lansangan said Ma also stated that because he was scared of losing Zeng’s money, or having it taken or stolen from him, he took the envelopes and hid them in his pants before packing them in his luggage.