US Court Sentences Chinese National to Nearly 4 Years for $37M Crypto Fraud
A Chinese nationwide obtained a 46-month (Nearly 4 years) federal jail sentence for his position in laundering over $36.9 million stolen from American victims by a complicated crypto funding rip-off operated from Cambodia.
According to a DOJ release, Jingliang Su, 45, was additionally ordered to pay $26,867,242 in restitution following his responsible plea to conspiracy to function an unlawful cash transmitting enterprise.
United States District Judge R. Gary Klausner handed down the sentence, marking one other victory within the Justice Department’s escalating marketing campaign in opposition to worldwide rip-off middle operations.
Romance Scams and Fake Trading Platforms Trap Victims
The fraud started with abroad co-conspirators contacting U.S. victims by unsolicited social media interactions, phone calls, textual content messages, and on-line relationship providers.
After gaining their targets’ belief, the scammers promoted fraudulent digital asset investments that appeared respectable.
Co-conspirators created faux web sites that resembled respectable cryptocurrency buying and selling platforms and satisfied victims to ship funds to these counterfeit websites.
The scammers would then falsely inform victims that their investments had been appreciating in worth, when in reality the cash had already been stolen.
“This defendant and his co-conspirators scammed 174 Americans out of their hard-earned cash,” mentioned Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
“In the digital age, criminals have discovered new methods to weaponize the web for fraud.”
$37M Laundered Through Bahamas to Cambodia
The stolen funds adopted a rigorously orchestrated path designed to obscure their prison origins.
More than (*4*) from U.S. financial institution accounts managed by co-conspirators to a single account at Deltec Bank within the Bahamas.
Su and different co-conspirators then directed Deltec Bank to convert the sufferer funds into the stablecoin Tether (USDT) and switch the transformed cryptocurrency to a digital asset pockets managed in Cambodia.
From there, Cambodian-based co-conspirators distributed the USDT to leaders of rip-off facilities all through the area.
“New funding alternatives could sound intriguing, however they’ve a darkish aspect: attracting criminals who, on this case, stole after which laundered tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} from their victims,” mentioned First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli.
“I encourage the investing public to be cautious. An ounce of prevention is price a pound of treatment.”
Eight Defendants Sentenced as Crackdown Intensifies
Su has been in federal custody since December 2024 and is one in every of eight co-conspirators who’ve pleaded responsible up to now.
Jose Somarriba and ShengSheng He every pleaded guilty to conspiracy to function an unlicensed cash transmitting enterprise, receiving sentences of 36 months and 51 months in jail, respectively.
California man will get 51 months for laundering $37M in Cambodia crypto scams, changing sufferer funds to Tether by Bahamas firm.#Crypto #Scamhttps://t.co/AUfPEncnGb
— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) September 9, 2025
The sentencing is the most recent end result of the Criminal Division’s ongoing work to examine, disrupt, and convey to justice people who facilitate rip-off middle operations worldwide.
DOJ’s Broader War on Crypto Crime
Su’s case arrives amid intensifying federal enforcement in opposition to cryptocurrency-related fraud.
Just sooner or later earlier, the US Department of Justice completed the forfeiture of greater than $400 million in property tied to Helix, a darknet cryptocurrency mixer used to launder proceeds from unlawful on-line marketplaces between 2014 and 2017.
According to the DOJ Criminal Division Fraud Section 2025 Year in Review, published on January 23, prosecutors accused 265 defendants of a cumulative alleged loss in fraud circumstances exceeding $16 billion, almost twice the quantity reported the earlier yr.
The DOJ famous that cryptocurrency is more and more changing into a most popular cost rail, laundering mechanism, and asset class for illicit funds.
The Criminal Division plans to leverage its community of International Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property prosecutors strategically posted worldwide to coordinate with international legislation enforcement companions.
Since 2020, the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section has secured convictions of greater than 180 cybercriminals and courtroom orders for the return of over $350 million in sufferer funds.
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