Five Men Plead Guilty in $36.9 Million Crypto Scam Tied to Cambodia Fraud Ring

Joseph Wong, Yicheng Zhang, Jose Somarriba, Shengsheng He, and Jingliang Su contacted victims directly through social media, chat apps, and dating platforms.

The group used fake companies and domestic bank accounts to collect money, which was later converted into Tether USDT $0.9943 and sent to a wallet controlled by a fraud operation in Cambodia, according to a June 9 statement from the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

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Each defendant played a different role in facilitating the movement of money. Wong handled the network that laundered the money into international accounts, while Zhang managed two US accounts used to process the payments.

Somarriba and He created a shell company called Axis Digital and opened an account at Deltec Bank in the Bahamas to receive funds. Meanwhile, Su helped convert the stolen money into USDT.

Eventually, the funds were sent to scam organizers in Cambodia, who operated "pig-butchering" centers that specialized in tricking victims into online investment scams.

Somarriba, He, and Su pleaded guilty to running an unlicensed money services business, which carries a maximum sentence of five years.

Wong and Zhang face up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. Su, who was arrested in November 2024, is scheduled to be sentenced on November 17.

Recently, four people in Queensland, Australia, were charged over a $123 million crypto-linked laundering scheme. How did the case unfold? Read the full story.