Nan Wu, a Queens man who led one of the largest dark web drug trafficking rings ever through a vendor account known as “FireBunny,” was sentenced today to prison after nearly three years of shipping drugs nationwide from Flushing, New York and Upland, California, and laundering $7.2 million through cryptocurrency exchanges. Wu was sentenced to a minimum of 6 ½ years in state prison and 5 years of post-release supervision.
His sentence was announced by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr.’s office, which noted that Wu’s full operation, including Peng Peng Tang, Bowen Chen, Zixiang Lin, Katie Montgomery and others, shipped more than 10,000 drug packages to customers in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., and laundered over $7.9 million, including more than $3.1 million in proceeds through cryptocurrency exchanges.
Wu, 39, of Flushing, was convicted of criminal sale of a controlled substance and money laundering. Court documents state that Wu operated under the moniker “FireBunny” on multiple dark web marketplaces, describing the account as an “old vendor with the best in QUALITY SPEED OF DELIVERY and STEALTH.”
According to prosecutors, Wu and his accomplices shipped packages containing cocaine, MDMA, ketamine, and other illegal substances with the help of co-conspirators in New York, California, and Maine. Wu’s co-conspirator, Montgomery, a U.S. Postal Service employee, advised Wu on importing MDMA and ketamine and routinely checked the status of packages arriving from overseas. Prosecutors said Wu imported some of the MDMA and ketamine from European wholesalers as well.
Between December 2019 and August 2022, Wu’s crew ran the drug business on the dark web — an encrypted network accessible only through specialized software that conceals the origin and destination of internet traffic. Prosecutors said such features made dark web marketplaces, which looked similar to legitimate e-commerce sites like eBay, a hotbed of illegal activities where controlled substances were “commonly marketed and sold.”
Packages were shipped from both Flushing and Upland, California, including by Wu’s associates Chen and Lin. During that time, Wu received more than $7.9 million into his Bitcoin wallet, which was laundered in the United States and China through accounts controlled by Wu and his California-based accomplice, Peng Peng Tang.
FireBunny advertised its drugs with phrases such as “Fishscale Cocaine Off the Brick No Filler Pure” and “KETAMINE — Rocks/Needles/Sugar/Powder MEDICAL GRADE.” The account boasted thousands of sales and earned five-star ratings for “Stealth,” “Quality,” and “Communication,” according to prosecutors.
About two years after Wu started his operation, the Manhattan DA began conducting undercover purchases from FireBunny, including cocaine, MDMA, and ketamine, between June 2021 and August 2022. The largest was 60 grams of cocaine for about $2,800. Lin helped ship packages by purchasing materials and renting U-Hauls and storage facilities.
Investigators said that until March 2022, all packages they received were shipped from Queens. But in April, Wu moved part of his operation to California, and all subsequent packages came from there. Tang helped coordinate Wu’s cross-country travel and financial transactions.
Wu allegedly orchestrated the scheme while a fugitive from justice on open federal and state cases. While on the run, he used aliases including Ning Song, Richard Song, Ray Lim, Raymond Song, Jack Lim, and Jim Lim to travel, rent property, and manage shipments.
In July 2022, investigators executed a search warrant on Wu and Tang’s Flushing apartment, arresting Wu on an open federal drug warrant. They recovered one kilogram of ketamine, more than 1,200 MDMA pills, half a kilogram of MDMA in rock form, and packaging materials.
Investigators seized phones from Wu and Tang that contained extensive evidence of the operation, including communications with suppliers about importing ketamine and MDMA, and encrypted chats with customers on messaging service platforms Wickr and Telegram.
After the July 2022 raid, FireBunny briefly suspended operations before Chen resumed the business in California. By the following month, investigators had searched his residence too, which ended the scheme.
In total, Wu and Tang received nearly $8 million in Bitcoin proceeds. Investigators also found nearly $900,000 in cryptocurrency on Tang’s phone. Some proceeds were laundered by converting the anonymized cryptocurrency Monero into Bitcoin, which was then funneled through exchange accounts controlled by Wu and Tang.
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According to the DA’s office, over $734,000 was converted into U.S. dollars and laundered through U.S.-based crypto exchanges. At least $2.4 million in Bitcoin was sent to an overseas exchange and laundered into Chinese yuan.
Wu pleaded guilty on April 3, 2025, in New York State Supreme Court to criminal sale of a controlled substance in the second degree and money laundering in the first degree. Along with his prison sentence, the DA’s office announced the forfeiture of approximately 20 Bitcoin, 3,297 Monero, and $12,857 in cash recovered during search warrants.
“These prosecutions resulted not only in significant convictions, but the forfeiture of millions of dollars’ worth of funds gained from selling illegal and potentially deadly drugs,” said Manhattan District Attorney Bragg. “Whether on the dark web or on our city’s streets, we will root out criminal organizations who put our community’s health at risk.”
