A 45-year-old man was sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison for his role in laundering almost $37 million in illicit digital-asset proceeds.
Jingliang Su, a Chinese national, was sentenced on Tuesday by U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner and ordered to pay over $26 million in restitution, according to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California.
Prosecutors say Su was part of a global crime network that persuaded victims in the U.S. to move funds to accounts controlled by the scheme's operators. The funds were then laundered through U.S. shell companies, digital asset wallets, and international bank accounts.
Prosecutors said co-conspirators reached out to people in the U.S. through texts, calls, and online dating to promote fake crypto investments to them, using fake websites that resembled legit crypto trading platforms. The victims were directed to fake websites designed to mimic legitimate crypto trading platforms and were falsely told their investments were growing, when in reality their money was being stolen.
More than $36.9 million was ultimately funneled to a bank account at Deltec Bank in the Bahamas, and then converted to Tether (USDT), according to prosecutors.
"From there, co-conspirators in Cambodia transferred the USDT to the leaders of scam centers throughout the region," prosecutors said.
The government said it had identified 174 victims in the U.S.
“New investment opportunities may sound intriguing, but they have a dark side: attracting criminals who, in this case, stole then laundered tens of millions of dollars from their victims,” First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement.
Su previously pleaded guilty in June to "one count of conspiracy to operate an illegal transmitting business," prosecutors said. Eight people involved have pleaded guilty so far, including Shengsheng He, 39, of La Puente, California. He was sentenced to over four years in prison.