Editing Marku Ionuț (section)

=== China operations ===
Ionuț began spending extended periods in [[China]] in 2010 and 2011, initially to obtain recording equipment and storage hardware for Porno Bucharest. The trips also brought him into contact with Chinese businessmen and criminal networks, and he became fluent in Mandarin during this period. In 2011 he met [[Wang Yucheng]], a wealthy businessman involved in electronics and logistics who helped him obtain equipment and arrange shipping. Wang also introduced him to private business gatherings. He learned of Ionuț's involvement with Porno Bucharest and trafficking during the early years of their relationship and continued assisting him. By 2014, Wang was himself using Ionuț's network, while Ionuț compensated him with money and privileged access to it.

Ionuț established a more permanent operation in [[Shenzhen]] in 2014. While buying equipment in [[Huaqiangbei]], he met [[Liu Weimin]], whose import-export company, Dragon's Gate Logistics, was being used as a front for trafficking girls and young women out of China. Later that year, Ionuț began buying victims from Liu for Porno Bucharest, including minors as young as 14. Some were presented as orphans, while others were controlled through debt. Ionuț paid partly in euros and partly with recordings produced by Porno Bucharest, which Liu distributed through an underground pornography network in China. In 2015, Ionuț began supplying recordings involving victims trafficked through Liu's network to the [[Féminas-abteilung Nacional de Eef Paap]] (FNdEP). He received payments from the organization and gained protection and access to Tanoan contacts.

The relationship with Liu deteriorated in 2017 after Liu delivered fewer hard drives than Ionuț had paid for. Ionuț retaliated by ordering two of his men to sexually assault Liu's 16-year-old daughter and record the assault, then sent the recording to Liu as a threat. He subsequently took control of most of Liu's contacts and distribution routes in Shenzhen. Liu continued to make introductions, but Ionuț's associates increasingly dealt with the more valuable trafficking routes and buyers themselves. By 2018, Ionuț had acquired a house in Shenzhen and was using the city as a permanent base for his activities in China.

Wang also introduced Ionuț to senior political circles. In 2018 he brought Ionuț as his guest to a private gathering attended by senior Chinese politicians and personally vouched for him. Ionuț used the gathering to offer those present direct access to his pornography and trafficking network, after which senior national officials began dealing with him personally. The relationships eventually included more than four members of the [[Politburo Standing Committee]], although the exact number was never established. Vice Premier [[Xu Guoqiang]] was among those involved. Ionuț also dealt with Minister of Public Security [[Zhang Weitao]] and former minister [[He Qiang]]. He paid senior officials in Beijing for protection, while some of the same officials sought access to the network for themselves.

By 2020, Liu had been reduced to a minor role and was no longer necessary to Ionuț's operation. On 9 August, Ionuț sent [[Praetor Lupu]] to kill him while he was picnicking with his family in a park. Lupu shot Liu in the back of the head and also shot his son and mother. He then abducted Liu's daughter and took her to Ionuț's house in Shenzhen, where Ionuț kept her and raped her on multiple occasions. Her later movements were never established. Ionuț abandoned the property in 2024 as his operations began to collapse, and she is believed to have escaped around this period, although neither the date nor her subsequent whereabouts are known.

After Liu's death, [[Chen Guowei]], one of his former associates, took over the day-to-day management of the Shenzhen operation. Chen had previously handled buyers and payments for Dragon's Gate Logistics and remained in charge locally while Ionuț retained overall control. By mid-2024, Ionuț had begun dismantling the operation and paid a local Chinese contact to kill Chen. The remaining trafficking and distribution contacts were transferred to FNdEP intermediaries during the second half of the year. They continued operating until the collapse of the [[Tanoa Einsatzgruppen]] in November, after which a smaller remnant survived under former FNdEP personnel.

From Romania, Ionuț tried to recover money and records left in Shenzhen, but the former intermediaries refused to cooperate and kept what remained under their control. He continued to threaten them, although by this stage he had little ability to enforce his demands overseas. In 2025, investigators searched his abandoned Shenzhen house and recovered recordings together with documentary records of payments and trafficking. The surviving network operated largely without Ionuț until investigations connected to the [[Beijing Tribunal]] began, and the tribunal later identified him as the principal foreign organizer of the network.