According to Odaily, a U.S. District Court has unsealed a grand jury indictment accusing two Chinese citizens of allegedly laundering at least $73 million through shell companies related to a cryptocurrency investment scam. Daren Li, 41, a dual citizen of China and Saint Kitts and Nevis, who resides in China, Cambodia, and the UAE, was arrested at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on April 12 and subsequently transferred to the Central District of California. Yicheng Zhang, a 38-year-old Chinese citizen living in Temple City, was arrested in Los Angeles and arraigned today. Both Li and Zhang are charged with conspiracy to launder money and six substantive counts of international money laundering.
According to court documents, Li, Zhang, and other co-conspirators are suspected of running an international money laundering ring, laundering proceeds from a cryptocurrency 'pig-butchering' scam. Victims were deceived in the scam, transferring millions of dollars into U.S. bank accounts opened in the names of dozens of shell companies, the sole apparent purpose of which was to facilitate money laundering. The money laundering network then assisted in transferring these funds to other domestic and international bank accounts and cryptocurrency platforms to conceal the source, nature, ownership, and control of the funds.
This scam involved laundering more than $73 million through U.S. financial institutions, with the funds being transferred to bank accounts in the Bahamas and converted into the virtual asset USDT. A cryptocurrency wallet involved in the scam received more than $341 million in virtual assets.