The U.S. Department of Justice has sentenced Daren Li to 20 years in prison for laundering funds linked to a large-scale international cryptocurrency investment scam.
Key Takeaways
A U.S. court sentenced a man named Daren Li for laundering more than $73 million from crypto-related investment scams.
The scheme relied on U.S. shell companies and banking access to convert victim funds into cryptocurrency, exposing weaknesses in financial entry points.
The case highlights how scam-center operations scale by combining social engineering with institutional financial infrastructure.
How the Laundering Network Operated Across Borders
According to the Department of Justice, Li, a forty-two-year-old dual national of China and St. Kitts and Nevis, played a central role in an international conspiracy that laundered proceeds from cryptocurrency investment scams and related frauds. The operations were run primarily from scam centers located in the Kingdom of Cambodia and targeted victims largely based in the United States.
Victims were approached through unsolicited contacts across social media, messaging platforms, phone calls, and online dating services, where scammers used fabricated personal or professional relationships to establish trust. Once engaged, victims were directed to spoofed websites mimicking legitimate cryptocurrency trading platforms or pressured by impersonated support personnel to transfer funds or cryptocurrency under false pretenses.
These tactics enabled the scheme to collect both fiat and digital assets at scale before proceeds were moved into the laundering pipeline.
Role of Financial Infrastructure in Scaling the Scheme
Prosecutors described Li as directly responsible for handling victim funds once they entered the financial system. He directed co-conspirators to establish U.S.-based bank accounts under shell companies, monitored incoming wire transfers, and coordinated the conversion of those funds into cryptocurrency. This process helped obscure the illicit origin of the proceeds and enabled rapid movement across jurisdictions.
At least $73.6 million in victim funds were deposited into accounts associated with the conspiracy, including at least $59.8 million laundered through U.S. shell companies. The reliance on conventional banking rails before conversion into digital assets highlights how fraud networks often depend on regulated financial access rather than purely on-chain mechanisms.
Enforcement Action and Fugitive Status
Li pleaded guilty on November 12, 2024, to one count of conspiracy to launder funds derived from cryptocurrency scams, but was not present at sentencing. Authorities said he became a fugitive in December 2025 after removing his ankle monitoring device while on pretrial release.
On February 9, 2026, the United States District Court for the Central District of California sentenced Li in absentia to twenty years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, representing the statutory maximum and reflecting the scale of victim harm.
Eight co-conspirators have pleaded guilty in related cases, with Li identified as the first defendant sentenced who was directly involved in receiving and laundering victim funds, distinguishing his role from earlier-stage facilitators.
Broader Context for the Crypto Market
Enforcement actions linked to scam-center activity are increasingly shaping how the crypto market evolves. While such crimes are not unique to digital assets, the use of cryptocurrency as a laundering medium places added pressure on exchanges and fiat on-ramps to maintain stronger monitoring and compliance controls.
Regulators and prosecutors are focusing not only on individual convictions but also on dismantling infrastructure and seizing illicit proceeds, aiming to reduce the economic viability of large-scale fraud. The longer-term significance lies in how institutions adapt access and conversion controls to constrain the pathways through which illicit funds move and scale.
