A Chinese national has been found guilty of money laundering more than $73 million from people through a crypto scam. The 41-year-old crypto scammer Daren Li pleaded guilty this week.
The dual citizen holder and his co-conspirators amassed this huge sum of money from a wide range of crypto scams. Daren Li lured people into investment scams by opening fake US bank accounts in the name of shell companies. His co-conspirators monitored the funds received in these bank accounts and executed wire transfers of victim funds.
Court documents revealed that the crypto scammer converted the funds received from the victims into digital assets like Tether (USDT). The fake American bank accounts were a ploy to mask the location, source, ownership and nature of the funds.
The 41-year-old crypto scammer admitted that at least $73.6 million funds gathered from victim funds were directly deposited into the fake US bank accounts which were operated by him and his co-conspirators. At least $59.8 million of these funds came from victims in the US shell companies.
Earlier in April this year, police arrested the crypto scammer Daren Li from the Atlanta Airport in Georgia. His sentencing hearing is scheduled in March next year. Since Li has pleaded guilty he is likely to face up to 20 years of prison sentence.
US Attorney Martin Estrada who represented the Central District of California in the court said: “Financial criminals and the money launderers who enable them wreak untold harm, ruining lives in the process.”
Estrada advised crypto investors to be “diligent and on guard” against those offering “quick riches via exotic investments”.
Over the years, crypto scams have spiked as the user base of digital currencies has increased. Threat actors often exploit the technological complexity of crypto investments to lure victims with promises of high returns. The anonymous nature of these crypto scams is what's driving it.
In the first half of this year, crypto scammers amassed $679 million worth of digital assets, revealed the Motley Fool research. It was the most lucrative way of scamming after bank transfers.