Authorities conducted more than $ 1 million in raids of downtown Los Angeles shops . The business are located in the city 's Chinatown - like fashion district . International drug cartels allegedly use a ` ` drug - based money transfer '' scheme . A major tipoff to the illegal activity came when the Sinaloa drug cartel used a fashion district firm as a conduit to launder and accept ransom for the release of a U.S. drug dealer who was kidnapped and tortured by narco thugs . Couriers brought ` ` " bags and suitcases full of cash to many businesses , '' feds say .
Authorities conducted more than $ 1 million in raids of downtown Los Angeles shops . The business are located in the city 's Chinatown - like fashion district . International drug cartels allegedly use a ` ` drug - based money transfer '' scheme . Couriers brought ` ` " bags and suitcases full of cash to many businesses , '' feds say .