The duo is allegedly part of an international crime gang that used crypto to launder their funds
The US Department of Justice has detained two people blamed for orchestrating a money laundering scheme that funneled over $73 million through US financial institutions and eventually converted it into Tether USDT tokens.
Daren Li was taken into custody at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta on April 12, and Yicheng Zhang was arrested in Los Angeles on May 16. The indictment demonstrating their alleged part in the plot was unsealed on May 16 in a US district court in California.
The pair headed an international criminal web that laundered millions of dollars using “pig butchering” crypto scams. The criminals gained victims’ trust before persuading them to invest large amounts of cash and then vanished with their funds.
The defendants allegedly directed accomplices to establish US bank accounts under shell companies, deceiving victims into transferring millions of dollars into the accounts, which were used to launder the illicit proceeds.
A statement from the DOJ reads, “The fraud scheme involved more than $73 million laundered through U.S. financial institutions to bank accounts in the Bahamas and converted to the virtual asset USDT, or Tether. A cryptocurrency wallet involved in the scheme received more than $341 million in virtual assets.”
Li and Zhang are charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and each faces six counts of international money laundering. The maximum sentence for each count is 20 years in prison, meaning they face the possibility of 140 years if convicted.
Pig butchering scams have become lucrative for cyber criminals as regulators have increased their efforts against crypto offenses in the last several months. However, many are concerned that newly proposed regulations to combat the activity could slow the development of the thriving crypto sector.
