A Chinese language nationwide acquired a 46-month (Almost 4 years) federal jail sentence for his function in laundering over $36.9 million stolen from American victims by a classy crypto funding rip-off operated from Cambodia.
In accordance with a DOJ launch, 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 Choose R. Gary Klausner handed down the sentence, marking one other victory within the Justice Division’s escalating marketing campaign towards worldwide rip-off middle operations.
Romance Scams and Pretend Buying and selling Platforms Lure 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.
In accordance with DOJ, a U.S. courtroom sentenced Chinese language nationwide Jingliang Su to 46 months in jail for laundering over $36.9 million from a crypto funding rip-off that focused 174 U.S. victims. Su helped transfer funds from faux buying and selling platforms, changing them into USDT and…
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) January 31, 2026
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 those counterfeit websites.
The scammers would then falsely inform victims that their investments had been appreciating in worth, when in truth the cash had already been stolen.
“This defendant and his co-conspirators scammed 174 Individuals out of their hard-earned cash,” mentioned Assistant Legal professional Normal A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Division’s Prison Division.
“Within the digital age, criminals have discovered new methods to weaponize the web for fraud.”
$37M Laundered By Bahamas to Cambodia
The stolen funds adopted a fastidiously orchestrated path designed to obscure their felony origins.
Greater than $36.9 million in sufferer funds had been transferred from U.S. financial institution accounts managed by co-conspirators to a single account at Deltec Financial institution within the Bahamas.
Su and different co-conspirators then directed Deltec Financial institution to transform 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 might sound intriguing, however they’ve a darkish aspect: attracting criminals who, on this case, stole after which laundered tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} from their victims,” mentioned First Assistant United States Legal professional Invoice Essayli.
“I encourage the investing public to be cautious. An oz. of prevention is value a pound of treatment.”
Eight Defendants Sentenced as Crackdown Intensifies
Su has been in federal custody since December 2024 and is certainly one of eight co-conspirators who’ve pleaded responsible up to now.
Jose Somarriba and ShengSheng He every pleaded responsible 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 final result of the Prison Division’s ongoing work to research, disrupt, and produce to justice people who facilitate rip-off middle operations worldwide.
DOJ’s Broader Warfare on Crypto Crime
Su’s case arrives amid intensifying federal enforcement towards cryptocurrency-related fraud.
Simply in the future earlier, the US Division of Justice accomplished 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.
In accordance with the DOJ Prison Division Fraud Part 2025 Yr in Overview, revealed 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 12 months.
The DOJ famous that cryptocurrency is more and more changing into a most well-liked fee rail, laundering mechanism, and asset class for illicit funds.
The Prison Division plans to leverage its community of Worldwide Laptop Hacking and Mental Property prosecutors strategically posted worldwide to coordinate with overseas regulation enforcement companions.
Since 2020, the Laptop Crime and Mental Property Part 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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