Defense for Chinese National in U.S. Fentanyl Case Proposes Testimony From China-Based Witness

TEXAS – A landmark U.S. fentanyl-trafficking prosecution that investigators say reaches from Texas and Mexico into China’s chemical supply chains has taken a new turn, with defense lawyers for accused broker Minsu “Fernando” Fang asking a federal judge to authorize the deposition of a witness in Shenzhen, China, whom they claim can provide exculpatory evidence.

The request, filed April 13 in the Southern District of Texas, comes as Fang’s case — already designated complex — nears a delayed trial after more than a year of pretrial litigation. Prosecutors allege Fang and co-conspirators operated as suppliers of fentanyl precursor chemicals, shipping parcels from China into the United States and onward toward Mexico, using low-value declarations, commingled import parcels, and U.S.-based re-shippers to move chemicals across borders.

Fang, 48, was arrested in June 2024 while boarding a flight at New York’s JFK airport bound for Mexico City.

Allegedly the leader of a transnational network that linked Chinese fentanyl precursor producers with Mexican cartels, Fang was nabbed almost a year after DEA agents in Texas seized 2,500 kilograms of chemical precursors.

It was not only one of the largest fentanyl busts in U.S. history, but a case that involved transfers through the Chinese Communist Party-controlled Bank of China and revealed evolving routes in the fentanyl trade that is ultimately controlled and subsidized by Beijing, according to U.S. Congressional investigations and testimony.

Unlike previous investigations sanctioning China-based fentanyl manufacturers, in the Fang case the U.S. government claimed to have captured a key agent.

“We charged this defendant for importing enough fentanyl precursor chemicals from China to kill millions of Americans,” former Attorney General Merrick Garland stated after the indictment was unsealed.

But a new defense motion filed April 13 proposes that testimony from a witness who can only be interviewed in China be admitted to the trial record.

The filing says the proposed witness, Xincheng Wu, is living in China, beyond the subpoena power of the U.S. court, and unwilling to travel to the United States, but willing to sit for a deposition in Shenzhen. Fang’s lawyers argue Wu can testify that Fang believed the shipments involved legal chemical products for cosmetics, not controlled fentanyl precursors.

Fang’s lawyers say Wu, a former freight-business partner of Fang, has evidence that undercuts the government’s central theory. According to the defense’s own summary of prosecutors’ allegations, the U.S. case relies heavily on communications between Fang and a Drug Enforcement Administration confidential source, including messages in which the source allegedly discussed fentanyl precursors, “fenta,” and using powder to make fentanyl.

Wu’s affidavit, attached to the motion and notarized in Shenzhen, says he helped connect Fang to a logistics contact named Liu Tao. Wu claims Liu Tao represented that the chemicals were for cosmetics and were not controlled substances. Wu further states that, to his knowledge, neither he nor Fang knew the goods were illegal.

However, U.S. government case filings indicate that Minsu Fang knew he was dealing with lethal clients — who would not appear to be in the cosmetics business — when his shipment of chemicals from China was delayed in U.S. trans-shipping.

“On September 11, 2023, through WhatsApp communication between Fang and the Confidential Source, they discussed the sale of the chemicals,” court filings say. “During the communications, Fang advised that he spoke to the manufacturer and that they would be willing to sell the product (referencing fentanyl precursors) using chemical companies to acquire the fentanyl precursors.”

The government’s WhatsApp evidence also indicates the alleged shipping-label scheme — making precursor shipments appear to originate in California rather than China — had become a life-or-death issue for Fang’s organization.

In a Sept. 13 WhatsApp text labeled “Very Urgent,” Fang allegedly told a co-conspirator: “They are going to kill me.”

“Seriously, yes, shipping labels please,” Fang texted to his trafficking associate, according to court filings. “Two weeks have passed.”

Two days later, “Fernando” Fang allegedly texted again: “The clients are extremely angry and they will kill [Fang and the co-conspirator],” the records say.

And on Sept. 21, Fang allegedly texted his associate again, saying: “right now. All day I can’t work on other matters, only this problem of shipping labels, crossing and reshipping, the clients wants to kill us too.”

That same day, in texts between Fang and the DEA’s confidential source, “the Confidential Source stated that they need a good supplier because the Confidential Source is making up to $35,000 USD per kilogram of fentanyl,” the U.S. government alleges.

After hashing out a deal structure, Fang allegedly promised to send “20 packages.”

“On the same date, following the conversation, FANG sent the Confidential Source FANG’s banking information to include, FANG’s PayPal, Western Union and Bank of China account information,” filings say.

In a June 20 letter to a judge in New York, U.S. Attorney Breon Peace argued that Fang should not be released on bail because he was likely to flee back to China.

Describing the DEA’s evidence, Peace wrote that “the enormous quantities of fentanyl that the defendant has trafficked present a significant danger to the community.”

“The defendant agreed to sell fentanyl precursors to the confidential source and to ship them to the confidential source by air and sea from China to the United States with a final destination to Mexico,” Peace’s letter says. “The defendant agreed to start off by sending 100 kilograms to establish a fentanyl precursor smuggling route. The defendant sent the confidential source his banking information to commence his sale and exportation of the fentanyl precursors to Mexico through the United States.”

The government has not yet filed its response to the deposition motion, and the judge has not ruled on it. A separate April 23 defense filing says prosecutors plan to respond in the future and that a hearing may follow. The same filing asks to push the May 4, 2026 trial date by at least 120 days, citing voluminous discovery, ongoing production, plea discussions, and the unresolved China-witness issue.