7 charged for role in money laundering, human smuggling and drug distribution operation out of Braintree

Seven people were charged Tuesday in an alleged scheme to grow and distribute marijuana in single-family homes in Massachusetts and Maine, according to federal prosecutors.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for Massachusetts said six of them have been arrested.

The seven defendants are all Chinese nationals and charged with conspiracy to cultivate and distribute marijuana. Five were also charged with counts of money laundering conspiracy.

The U.S. attorney's office claims Jianxiong Chen, of Braintree, was the "ringleader" of the group. Prosecutors allege Chen's group smuggled Chinese citizens across the Mexico border into the U.S., and withheld their passports until they worked off their smuggling debt.

Chen allegedly controlled multiple grow houses in Maine, along with a Braintree home that served as the base of the operations. Bulk cash and the marijuana the group produced were brought to the Braintree house and redistributed by Chen, the U.S. attorney's office said. A search in October reportedly recovered several Chinese passports and $270,000 in cash from the house and from a Porsche in the driveway.

"These defendants allegedly turned quiet homes across the Northeast into hubs for a criminal enterprise — building a multi-million-dollar black-market operation off the backs of an illegal workforce and using our neighborhoods as cover,” said U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley in a statement.

Additional grow houses were allegedly run in Braintree, Melrose and Greenfield, among other Massachusetts and Maine locations. Law enforcement searches in the Melrose and Greenfield houses in October also recovered 109 kilograms of marijuana and nearly $200,000 in cash.

The U.S. attorney's office said that the money the group made was used to purchase luxury items, including homes and jewelry, and to expand the operation.