A federal judge in Illinois on Tuesday sentenced a Chinese national to 14 years behind bars for laundering the proceeds of illegal narcotics on behalf of Mexican drug traffickers, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin imposed the sentence on April 27 after a hearing in federal court in Chicago, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois said in a press release. Xianbing Gan, a 51-year-old Chinese national, arranged for over $500,000 in illicit drug proceeds to be picked up in Chicago in 2018, prosecutors said. The money was supposed to be transferred to drug traffickers in Mexico through various bank accounts in China. “Unbeknownst to Gan, a purported money courier who picked up the drug proceeds in Chicago was an undercover law enforcement agent,” according to the release. Gan, who prosecutors said facilitated the money transfers while living in Guadalajara, Mexico, …