Five individuals have pleaded guilty to their roles in a sprawling $36.9 million cryptocurrency fraud scheme that defrauded U.S. citizens and funneled the stolen funds to a scam hub in Cambodia, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
The scam involved an elaborate international network that preyed on victims via social media, messaging platforms, and dating apps. Prosecutors said the defendants — Joseph Wong, Yicheng Zhang, Jose Somarriba, Shengsheng He, and Jingliang Su — posed as investment advisers and built personal connections with victims through direct messaging, calls, and long-term conversations. Victims were falsely led to believe their investments were generating returns, while in reality, their money was never invested.
Instead, the funds were routed through a complex web of U.S. bank accounts and shell companies before being converted into Tether (USDT) and sent to crypto wallets operated by scam centres in Cambodia. One such shell company, “Axis Digital,” was reportedly created by Somarriba and He, who also opened a Deltec Bank account in the Bahamas to collect funds.
Su acted as the company’s director and was responsible for converting fiat to USDT, while Wong coordinated the laundering operation, sending funds to international accounts. Zhang managed multiple U.S. bank accounts to facilitate the transactions.
Zhang and Wong, both facing up to 20 years in prison, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Su, Somarriba, and He face up to five years behind bars for conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmission business. Su has been in custody since November 2024 and is scheduled to be sentenced on November 17.
The U.S. government is also taking steps to sever ties between American financial institutions and firms accused of enabling these operations. On May 1, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network proposed a rule to block Cambodia-based Huione Group — a company charged with facilitating cybercrime and laundering for North Korea’s Lazarus Group — from accessing the U.S. banking system.
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