NEW YORK CITY—Yiyi Chen, a Chinese national who was convicted in February for her role in a conspiracy to import drugs from China to the United States, was given a 15-year sentence followed by three years supervised release by District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Paul Gardephe on Aug. 22.
During an hours-long hearing, the defense had asked for 30 months, citing good behavior and Chen’s mother, who has cancer in China. Prosecutors asked for 18 years, citing Chen’s lack of remorse and alleged perjury during trial. Sentencing guidelines would have allowed for 27 years.
Prosecutors argued that Chen had intended to mislead jurors by saying that she was unaware of an advertisement for fentanyl precursors even though the photos for the ad were found on her laptop, that she did not believe a buyer of precursor chemicals meant to violate U.S. law, and that she was confused and did not understand a Voice of America article about the fentanyl crisis in the United States….