Georgia Man Gets 14 Years for Cryptocurrency-Fueled Drug Trafficking Operation

A Georgia man has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for orchestrating a drug trafficking operation from behind bars. Andreaus Benard Oliver Jr., 27, of Cordele, Georgia, was sentenced to 168 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release in U.S. District Court in Athens on October 1. Oliver pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance in April. He was one of six individuals charged with drug-related offenses in August 2025, including two men from China and two prisoners in Georgia.

The operation involved the trafficking of fentanyl and synthetic cannabinoids from China to Southwest Georgia. Two Chinese nationals, Wang Xin, 28, and Yong Gao, 29, allegedly facilitated the sale and distribution of these substances. Oliver Jr. and his co-conspirators placed online orders for synthetic cannabinoids and paid for the drugs using Bitcoin. According to prosecutors, Oliver Jr. sent approximately $39,445 worth of Bitcoin to a cryptocurrency wallet controlled by Wang from July 2023 to February 2024.

Law enforcement agents executed a search warrant at Oliver Jr.’s residence on July 22, 2024, which prosecutors described as an “illegal drug conversion lab.” Among the items seized were 191 metal pans, several jugs and bottles containing suspected cannabinoids, 373 dried sheets of paper suspected to have been soaked with cannabinoids, about $2,700 in cash, ledgers, and shipping labels addressed to inmates in jail and prison facilities around the country.

William R. “Will” Keyes, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, stated, "Those who traffic fentanyl and other dangerous drugs from China into Southwest Georgia will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." The case was the result of an investigation by the Homeland Security Task Force, a multi-agency task force co-led by the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations.