Banking and Finance Law Daily Wrap Up, CRIMES AND OFFENSES—State AGs urge President Trump to take action against drug trafficking on Chinese apps, (Mar 24, 2026)

By A. Bryan Gerepka

The refusal of the Chinese government to allow its corporate entities to comply with valid American legal processes demands a firm response, the state AGs wrote.

Citing national security implications, a bipartisan group of six state attorneys general (AGs) called on President Trump and the federal government to prioritize law enforcement against Chinese messaging apps—WeChat and Weixin—that enable fentanyl trafficking and money laundering. The group consists of the state Attorneys General of North Carolina, South Carolina, Colorado, Kentucky, New Hampshire, and New Jersey.

In a Mar. 23, 2026, letter to the President, the group wrote that despite securing commitments from WeChat to disrupt the fentanyl pipeline, law enforcement efforts have been stymied by a lack of cooperation from Weixin. Since many of the money brokers facilitating fentanyl transactions are based in China and use Weixin, American investigators hit a wall when the trail crosses that border, the AGs stated.

Chinese corporation Tencent is the parent of both Singapore-based WeChat and its Chinese sister app Weixin. As such, both companies are governed by Chinese government rules that prohibit data sharing. The Chinese government’s refusal to allow its corporate entities to comply with valid American legal processes demands a firm response, the AGs stressed.

Close the Weixin gap. The group urged the President and the Administration to work with their Chinese counterparts to close the gap with Weixin, noting that without access to data on the China-based platform, law enforcement cannot fully dismantle the international networks laundering drug profits.

“We got WeChat to the table and secured real commitments, but its sister app in China is still a black box for American law enforcement,” said North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson. “If the federal government makes this a priority with China, “we can shut down the financial pipeline that keeps fentanyl flowing into the country.”

Background. In May 2025, the state AGs wrote to WeChat outlining evidence of the platform's role in supporting drug-related money laundering and demanding concrete action within 30 days (see Banking and Finance Law Daily, May 14, 2025). In their joint letter, the group expressed their “serious concerns about WeChat’s role in facilitating one of the greatest current threats to our states and our people: fentanyl trafficking.” The group cited recent investigations and criminal cases that have identified WeChat as a significant facilitator in fentanyl-related money laundering. The state attorneys general believe that WeChat’s involvement is not confined to “isolated incidents;” rather, there appears to be “a pattern of WeChat’s complicity in facilitating money laundering tied to fentanyl trafficking.”

Agreement with WeChat. On Mar. 11, 2026, the group announced that it had reached an agreement with WeChat to combat illicit activities on its platform. The company agreed to deploy money-laundering tools, including identifying and reporting posts that offer or solicit bulk cash transactions. WeChat also agreed to respond to law enforcement requests for account information, such as WeChat IDs, phone numbers, and email addresses, preserve data, and process emergency requests within 48 hours, the group wrote. While acknowledging this progress, the group stated that “it is now clear these measures are insufficient because both companies firmly resisted sharing critical data regarding Chinese users with American law enforcement.”

Chinese data-sharing rules stymie U.S. law enforcement. WeChat’s international Messenger users and Weixin China-based users seamlessly interact on what is functionally the same platform, they wrote. While WeChat claims it will comply with U.S. legal processes under Singaporean law, it claims that it cannot provide data on the Weixin users who are communicating with American suspects, citing Chinese legal restrictions. In practice, the AGs argued, law enforcement can only see one side of illegal transactions, shielding Chinese-based users from justice. Furthermore, Weixin claims that China’s International Criminal Justice Assistance Law explicitly prohibits them from cooperating with U.S. law enforcement, the group added. These dynamics actively thwart our ability to disrupt and dismantle the international drug organizations poisoning our communities, the group stated. These jurisdictional obstacles are deadly, untenable, and must be addressed, the AGs’ letter concluded.

Companies: WeChat; Weixin

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