Zhenli Ye Gon, "Cooperate or Else", Obtains Legal Protection to Learn Details of Detention in the US

“Sol Prendido” for Borderland Beat 

The Chinese-born pharmaceutical businessman Zhenli Ye Gon, currently incarcerated at Federal Social Rehabilitation Center Number 1 “Altiplano,” obtained a federal injunction requiring Mexican authorities to inform him of the exact date of his arrest in the United States and to provide him with a copy of the criminal proceedings against him before a judge in Washington D.C.

Judge Juan Mateo Brieba de Castro, assigned to the Sixth District Court for Criminal Matters in Mexico City, determined that the information requested by Ye Gon is “crucial to safeguarding the due process of law in the criminal proceedings against him.” The judge ordered that the businessman’s petition, filed in November 2024, be forwarded to the First District Court for Criminal Matters in the State of Mexico, located in Toluca de Lerdo, for appropriate action.

The federal judge argued that, in order for the petitioner to have the necessary tools to confront the punitive power of the State, the judge presiding over the case must have all possible information to resolve the legal situation of the accused. “The actions of the responsible party were not consistent with Article 17 of the Constitution, which mandates that all authorities seek substantive justice,” Brieba de Castro stated in his ruling, indicating that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) should have forwarded the request to the judge in charge of the case.

According to El Universal newspaper, on December 13, 2025, Ye Gon sought federal protection after the SRE denied him the information, arguing that it lacked the authority to handle requests from private individuals and that the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) is responsible for extradition proceedings.

In November 2024, the Chinese-born businessman requested the information from Miguel Ángel Méndez Buenos Aires, prosecutor for International Affairs at the FGR, who forwarded his petition to the Extraditions Directorate of the FGR’s International Procedures Unit. The agency responded in April 2025; however, Ye Gon questioned the legality of the document.

Ye Gon’s case dates back to 2007, when federal agents carried out a historic seizure of $207 million in cash at his residence located at Sierra Madre 515, in Lomas de Chapultepec, Mexico City. Following the operation, the pharmaceutical businessman was arrested in Rockville, Maryland, by agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

In 2009, the U.S. justice system acquitted Ye Gon of charges of methamphetamine distribution in the United States.  Nevertheless, the Chinese-born businessman managed to remain in the U.S. through various legal maneuvers that stalled the extradition request from the Mexican government, which sought him for organized crime, money laundering, and drug trafficking offenses. He was finally extradited and is currently incarcerated in the maximum-security Altiplano prison in the State of Mexico.

Sources: Zeta Tijuana, Borderland Beat Archives