A federal judge in California sentenced a dual citizen of China and Saint Kitts and Nevis in absentia to 20 years in prison for his role in a $73 million international crypto scam.
Daren Li, who is a fugitive after removing an electronic ankle monitoring device in December, also received three years of supervised release for his role in an international cryptocurrency investment conspiracy run from scam centers in Cambodia, according to a court filing Monday.
Cambodia has become a hub for “pig slaughter” crypto scams, generating more than $30 million daily through forced labor schemes, according to a report by TRM Labs. A separate TRM report revealed how more than $96 billion in cryptocurrency has flowed to Cambodia-linked companies since 2021, largely used for money laundering and fraud.
“As part of an international cryptocurrency investment scam, Daren Li and his co-conspirators laundered more than $73 million stolen from American victims,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in the statement.
Duva said the court’s criminal division is working with global law enforcement officials to find, detain and return Li to the United States to serve his entire sentence.
Li pleaded guilty on November 12, 2024 in the Central District of California to conspiring with others to launder funds obtained from victims through crypto scams and related frauds. As part of his plea deal, Li said he and his cronies would contact victims directly through unsolicited interactions on social media, phone calls and messages, and online dating services. Their tactics involved gaining the trust of victims by establishing professional or romantic relationships with them and then luring them into using fake platforms to make it appear they were investing in cryptocurrencies.
In other cases, the group posed as technical support staff and induced victims to send funds via bank transfers or cryptocurrency trading platforms to supposedly remedy a non-existent virus or other bogus computer-related issue.
Social engineering scams, such as fake investment offers and phishing tactics, were the top threat to cryptocurrency users, accounting for billions of dollars in losses and accounting for nearly 41% of all cryptocurrency security incidents in 2025.
