A Chinese national has been sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison for laundering almost $36.9 million from U.S. investors via fake crypto platforms.
Government documents from Tuesday show that the accused, identified as Jingliang Su, will spend 46 months in a U.S. jail for laundering millions of dollars stolen from American investors through fraudulent crypto platforms run out of scam centers in Cambodia.
The accused has also been ordered to pay $26.8 million in restitution after pleading guilty to his role in the $36.9 million scheme that defrauded 174 victims in the United States.
The case is set against the backdrop of rising losses from cryptocurrency scams and fraudulent activities, including phoney trading platforms and impersonation scams.
The total damage from fake crypto platform cases is estimated to be between $14 billion and $17 billion worldwide in 2025, a significant increase from the losses reported in 2024.
How did the crime take place?
Scammers persuaded victims to invest through phoney websites that mimicked reputable cryptocurrency trading platforms by contacting them via unsolicited calls and messages, according to court documents.
Once funds were transferred, victims were shown fabricated profits while the money was siphoned off by the network. The scammers also used fabricated account balances to create the illusion of profits while swiping off the funds.
“This defendant and his co-conspirators cheated 174 Americans out of their hard-earned savings,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva said, adding that criminals are increasingly exploiting digital tools to carry out fraud.
Stolen funds routed through U.S. shell firms
Prosecutors have said that the stolen funds were funneled through the U.S.-based shell companies before landing in a bank account in the Bahamas, where Su converted the $36.9 million into the stablecoin Tether.
The crypto was then transferred to wallets controlled from Cambodia and used to finance scam operations across Southeast Asia.
Eight co-conspirators have pleaded guilty in the case so far. The incident comes at a time when the U.S. Justice Department’s Criminal Division has secured convictions against more than 180 cybercriminals since 2020, with courts ordering the recovery and return of over $350 million to victims during that time.