‘We’re done playing whack-a-mole,’ the FBI’s director told reporters.
Three Americans, 22 Chinese nationals, and four Chinese companies have been indicted on trafficking charges for allegedly facilitating the flow of illicit cutting agents from China that are used to mix with fentanyl, federal officials announced on Sept. 3.
FBI Director Kash Patel, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio Dominick Gerace, and agents from the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced the charges during a press conference in Cincinnati, Ohio.
“Today’s announcement marks a first-of-its-kind international operation for the FBI targeting the fentanyl plague that has killed tens of thousands of Americans and indicting the companies and individuals in mainland China that manufacture the precursor chemicals fueling the destruction of our communities,” Patel said in a statement.
“This operation has already seized enough fentanyl powder to kill 70 million Americans and enough fentanyl pills to kill another 270,000. And we have now indicted the Chinese precursor companies and exposed the funding streams that facilitate this deadly trade.”
Eric Michael Payne, 39, of Tipp City, Ohio, was arrested on Aug. 22.
Payne was allegedly a main supplier of illegal cutting agents to fentanyl traffickers operating in southern Ohio from January 2022 to August 2025, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio.
Drug dealers often mix drugs with cutting agents, also known as adulterants, to stretch their supply and maximize profit. In some cases, they also add more powerful substances to amplify the drug’s potency.
Payne allegedly resold the cutting agents to drug dealers. Prosecutors also allege that he “intentionally mixed” them with fentanyl he possessed, creating a fentanyl cocktail that he then resold to drug dealers, according to an indictment.
Payne and two other Americans—Auriyon Tresan Rayford, 24, of Tipp City, and Ciandrea Bryne Davis, 39, of Atlanta—allegedly purchased at least 10 kilograms of cutting agents from several Chinese companies, which could yield more than 150 kilograms of fentanyl mixture, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
According to prosecutors, Rayford allegedly stored some of the illegal substance at a residence in Ohio.
“We’re done playing whack-a-mole,” Patel said during the press conference. He added that the indictment targeted “an enterprise-wide system in mainland China.”
By Frank Fang
