Laundering $37M through cryptocurrency: US court hands down sentence

Key points:

• A US court has sentenced a Chinese national to 46 months in prison for participating in the laundering of nearly $37 million stolen through a crypto investment scam.
• The fraudsters used fake trading platforms and moved the funds in USDT to conceal their origin.

Chinese citizen Jingliang Su was sentenced in the United States to 46 months in federal prison for his role in laundering nearly $37 million stolen from American victims through a cryptocurrency investment scheme. The fraudulent operation was run out of Cambodia and specifically targeted victims in the US.

According to the US Department of Justice, the 45-year-old Su pleaded guilty to conspiracy and operating an unlicensed money transmission business. The court also ordered him to pay more than $26.8 million in restitution to the victims. The sentence was handed down by US District Judge R. Gary Klausner.

How the Crypto Scam Worked

The scheme began with initial contact through social media, messaging apps, and dating websites. After gaining victims’ trust, the scammers pitched “profitable” digital asset investments and directed them to fake trading platforms designed to look legitimate.

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Victims were shown fabricated profits even though their funds had already been stolen. Investigators say 174 people were defrauded through this scheme.

The stolen money was first transferred to bank accounts in the United States, then moved to Deltec Bank in the Bahamas. From there, the funds were converted into USDT and sent to wallets controlled in Cambodia, where they were distributed among the operators of the scam centers.

Source: TRM Labs

Crackdown on Crypto Crime Intensifies

Su has been in federal custody since December 2024 and is one of eight defendants in the case who have already pleaded guilty. Other participants in the scheme previously received prison sentences ranging from 36 to 51 months.

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Su’s case is part of a broader US Department of Justice campaign against crypto-related fraud. Authorities are ramping up investigations into international schemes and report a sharp rise in damages: according to the DOJ, total losses from fraud cases exceeded $16 billion in 2025—nearly double the figure recorded the previous year.