Five Men Plead Guilty in $36.9 Million Crypto Scam

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

Written by Aaron S.,

Editor-In-Chief

Last Updated: June 10, 2025

Key Takeaways

Five men pleaded guilty to a $36.9 million crypto scam that used dating apps and social media to trick US victims into fake investments;
The group used shell companies and bank accounts to collect funds, convert them to USDT, and send them to a scam operation in Cambodia;
Wong and Zhang face up to 20 years for money laundering, while the others could get five years for running an unlicensed money service.

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

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Federal prosecutors in California have announced guilty pleas from five men involved in a $36.9 million cryptocurrency scheme that targeted people in the United States.

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 $1.00 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.