Cambodian scam center victimized 174 Americans; Chinese national accused of laundering $36.9 million extradited to U.S. from Netherlands

WASHINGTON

The U.S. Justice Department announced on Oct. 23 (local time) that Chinese national Zheng Zhao, 44, had been extradited from the Netherlands to the United States and arraigned in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Zhao is accused of taking part in laundering more than $36.9 million in proceeds from a cryptocurrency investment scam carried out at scam centers in Cambodia. The department has identified 174 U.S. victims in the case. Eight co-conspirators in the same case have already pleaded guilty.

U.S. Justice Department brings Zhao, handed over by the Netherlands, before California federal court

According to the Justice Department, Zhao was charged in August 2025 with conspiracy to commit money laundering. At the end of its press release, the department identified the charging document in the case as a criminal complaint and added, "A criminal complaint is merely an allegation." A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court. The maximum statutory penalty for conspiracy to commit money laundering is 20 years in prison.

The extradition was handled by the Office of International Affairs (OIA) of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. The department said the OIA "worked closely with Dutch authorities to secure the arrest and extradition of Zhao." The department said the United States sincerely thanks Dutch authorities for their assistance. The department did not say when Zhao was arrested in the Netherlands, whether Zhao is in custody after the extradition, or when trial is scheduled.

"This extradition should be a lesson to all those who seek to exploit vulnerable Americans from overseas," said A. Tysen Duva, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. Duva said charged defendants will be pursued anywhere in the world. "Wherever you are, we have the reach to find you," Duva said.

Scheme began with social media and dating app contacts and led to fake exchanges

According to the Justice Department, overseas co-conspirators contacted U.S. victims through social media, phone calls, text messages and online dating sites. The co-conspirators encouraged victims to make fake digital asset investments and steered them to fake cryptocurrency trading sites.

The victims' funds were laundered through U.S. shell companies, overseas bank accounts and digital asset wallets, the department said. The department said the scheme was carried out from scam centers in the "Kingdom of Cambodia."

In November 2025 material, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia called this method "pig butchering." Criminals approach victims through U.S. social media or text messages, gain their trust, lure them to fake cryptocurrency investment sites and move the money they receive overseas. The same material said many scam compound workers are human trafficking victims held under the watch of armed groups and abused. The Secret Service (USSS) responded to approximately 3,000 victims of cryptocurrency investment fraud in fiscal year 2025.

Treasury detailed conditions inside scam compounds in an April 2026 sanctions announcement. Trafficking victims were forced to commit fraud under threats of violence, and managers reportedly confiscated workers' passports. Operators trapped victims in debt by making them pay back even the cost of their own abduction. Managers assigned daily quotas of people to message, and workers who failed to meet quotas faced violence. Workers were also threatened with forced prostitution. Illegal confinement, beatings and deaths were reported at some facilities, Treasury said. The strike force announced the same day that it had seized a Telegram channel with more than 6,000 followers. The channel lured people to Cambodia with promises of high-paying jobs, and those recruited were held at scam compounds in rural Cambodia near the Thai border and forced to carry out law enforcement impersonation scams targeting Americans and others. Some job postings sought people with an "American" accent or people to work night shifts matching U.S. daytime hours.

Victims' funds were pooled in a single Deltec Bank account in the Bahamas and converted to Tether

According to the Justice Department, more than $36.9 million in victim funds was moved from bank accounts in the United States to a single account at Deltec Bank in the Bahamas. "Zhao and other co-conspirators arranged for Deltec Bank to convert victim funds to the stablecoin Tether (USDT)," the department said. The converted Tether was sent to wallets controlled in Cambodia, and co-conspirators in Cambodia passed it on to scam center bosses in the region.

Earlier court records in the co-conspirators' cases identified the account holder. According to Justice Department material released in June 2025, the Deltec Bank account was opened in the name of "Axis Digital Limited." Jose Somarriba and Shengsheng He set up the company and opened the account, and Jingliang Su joined as a director and handled currency conversion and transfers. The Tether went to scam center leaders in the region, including in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, the department said.

There was also a separate money laundering channel in the United States. According to the Justice Department, Joseph Wong, then 33, of Alhambra, California, ran a money laundering network in Los Angeles. Chinese national Yicheng Zhang, then 39, opened and managed two U.S. bank accounts used for money laundering.

Eight co-conspirators have pleaded guilty, with prison sentences following

Eight co-conspirators in the case have pleaded guilty. The Justice Department announced in June 2025 that five people — Wong, Zhang, Somarriba, He and Su — had pleaded guilty. Wong and Zhang pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering (maximum 20 years in prison), and Somarriba, He and Su pleaded guilty to conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business (maximum five years in prison). Zhang had been in custody since May 2024, and Su since November 2024. Lu Zhang, a Chinese national who was in the United States illegally and ran a U.S.-based money laundering network, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering on May 13, 2024.

Sentences followed. He, then 39, of La Puente, California, was sentenced in September 2025 to 51 months in prison. The court ordered He to pay $26,867,242.44 in restitution to victims. Su, a Chinese national, was sentenced in January 2026 to 46 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution in the same amount. In material on Su's sentencing, the department said Somarriba received a 36-month prison sentence. In that material, Assistant Attorney General Duva said Su and co-conspirators "scammed 174 Americans out of their hard-earned money."

Co-conspirator Daren Li cut off electronic monitor, fled and was sentenced in absentia to 20 years

One of the co-conspirators fled. According to Justice Department material from June and September 2025, the eight co-conspirators who pleaded guilty include Daren Li, a national of China and St. Kitts and Nevis. In its June 2025 material, the department said Li had lived in Cambodia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and had been in U.S. custody since April 2024. Li pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering on Nov. 12, 2024.

The Justice Department said in February 2026 that Li, 42, cut off an ankle electronic monitoring device and fled in December 2025. The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California sentenced Li in absentia to the statutory maximum of 20 years in prison and three years of supervised release. Li admitted that Li and co-conspirators caused at least $73.6 million in victim funds to be deposited into related accounts, of which at least $59.8 million came from U.S. shell companies. Li also admitted directing co-conspirators to open shell company accounts and monitoring the conversion of victim funds into cryptocurrency. The department said Li was the first defendant directly involved in receiving victim funds in the case to be sentenced. Duva said the department would work with international partners to bring Li back to the United States to serve the full sentence. In April 2026 material, the U.S. Treasury said the State Department had offered a reward of up to $4 million for information leading to Li's arrest.

Investigation led by Secret Service, assisted by HSI and State Department

The investigation was handled by the Secret Service's Global Investigative Operations Center. Homeland Security Investigations' (HSI) El Camino Real Financial Crimes Task Force, U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) National Targeting Center, the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) and the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) provided assistance. The prosecution is being handled by prosecutor Tamara Livshiz of the Criminal Division's white-collar and corporate crime section, Acting Deputy Chief James Yoon of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS), and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nisha Chandran and Alexander Gorin of the Central District of California.

"This case should serve as a warning to scammers in every corner of the world: there is nowhere to hide," said Todd Bratz, special agent in charge of the Secret Service's Office of Investigations.

"As crime has globalized, so has law enforcement's ability to locate and catch criminals," said Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California. The Justice Department said the case is part of the Criminal Division's Cyber-enabled Scam Initiative (CSI). According to the department, CCIPS has secured convictions of more than 180 cybercriminals since 2020 and obtained court orders for the return of more than $350 million in victim funds.

U.S. government widens pressure with strike force and sanctions targeting "Chinese organized crime"

The Trump administration has identified Chinese organized crime groups as being behind Southeast Asian scam centers and has stepped up its response. In November 2025, Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, launched the "Scam Center Strike Force" together with the Justice Department's Criminal Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Secret Service. Pirro at the time called the fraud a "generational wealth transfer from Main Street America into the pockets of Chinese organized crime." The strike force said it targets groups linked to Chinese organized crime operating in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. At its launch, the strike force said its cryptocurrency seizure team had seized and forfeited $401,657,274.33, and that it had begun forfeiture proceedings for $80 million in stolen funds.

On April 23, 2026, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned a total of 29 targets, including Cambodian Senator Kok An and 28 related individuals and companies. Treasury called Kok An "a Cambodian senator who controls scam compounds throughout the country." Treasury also said Kok An is a businessperson who owns multiple properties housing scam centers. Citing U.S. government estimates, Treasury said Americans lost at least $10 billion to Southeast Asia-based scams in 2024, up 66% from the previous year. "Eliminating fraud is a top priority for the Trump Administration," said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Private companies were also brought in. On June 3, 2026, the strike force announced the results of its "Disruption Week." The strike force held in-person meetings in Washington on May 18-21 with foreign law enforcement agencies and private-sector representatives. Private-sector participants included Apple, Coinbase, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Silent Push, SpaceX, TRM Labs and Zenlayer, among others. Foreign participants were the Australian Federal Police, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, New Zealand Police, the Royal Thai Police and the UK National Crime Agency. Together they blocked more than 1.4 million social media and email accounts and froze more than $3.8 million in cryptocurrency. Seven scammers were arrested in Thailand.

The strike force is also widening international cooperation. The United States and Britain signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Sept. 3, 2026, to dismantle scam centers. It was signed by Pirro and Graeme Biggar, director general of the UK National Crime Agency (NCA). "Together we will disable the Chinese TOC networks that are operating these scam compounds," Pirro said. According to figures from the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), reported losses from cyber-enabled investment fraud (CIF) rose 89% from $4.57 billion in 2023 to $8.65 billion in 2025.

On Sept. 9, the strike force announced that it had frozen more than $52 million in cryptocurrency in a single day in connection with "Xinbi Guarantee," a Chinese-language, Telegram-based illicit marketplace. This included about $12 million held in two Xinbi Guarantee wallets and freeze requests for 47 other wallets. On Xinbi Guarantee, vendors sold services such as building fake investment sites, laundering criminal proceeds and recruiting human trafficking victims to scam center operators. Xinbi Guarantee held buyers' payments until vendors completed the services. This brought the total cryptocurrency frozen by the strike force to approximately $938 million. "My Strike Force will continue to dismantle Chinese organized crime," Pirro said.

Sources (KST)

• U.S. Justice Department (OPA) · 2026-10-24 (local 10-23) · Chinese National Extradited for Alleged Role in Multimillion-Dollar Cryptocurrency Scam Targeting U.S. Citizens · https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/chinese-national-extradited-alleged-role-multimillion-dollar-cryptocurrency-scam-targeting
• U.S. Justice Department (OPA) · 2025-06-10 (local 06-09) · Five Men Plead Guilty for Their Roles in Global Digital Asset Investment Scam Conspiracy Resulting in Theft of More than $36.9 Million from Victims · https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-men-plead-guilty-their-roles-global-digital-asset-investment-scam-conspiracy-resulting
• U.S. Justice Department (OPA) · 2025-09-09 (local 09-08) · California Man Sentenced for Role in Global Digital Asset Investment Scam Conspiracy Resulting in Theft of More than $36.9M from Victims · https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/california-man-sentenced-role-global-digital-asset-investment-scam-conspiracy-resulting
• U.S. Justice Department (OPA) · 2026-01-28 (local 01-27) · Chinese National Sentenced to Prison for Role in Crypto Scam Targeting Americans · https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/chinese-national-sentenced-prison-role-crypto-scam-targeting-americans
• U.S. Justice Department (OPA) · 2026-02-10 (local 02-09) · Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Role in $73 Million Global Cryptocurrency Investment Scam · https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/man-sentenced-20-years-prison-role-73-million-global-cryptocurrency-investment-scam
• U.S. Treasury Department · 2026-04-24 (local 04-23) · Treasury Sanctions Cambodian Senator Kok An and Scam Center Network Defrauding Americans · https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0469
• U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia · 2025-11-13 (local 11-12) · New Scam Center Strike Force Battles Southeast Asian Crypto Investment Fraud Targeting Americans · https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/new-scam-center-strike-force-battles-southeast-asian-crypto-investment-fraud-targeting
• U.S. Justice Department (OPA) · 2026-04-24 (local 04-23) · Scam Center Strike Force Takes Major Actions Against Southeast Asian Scam Centers Targeting Americans · https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/scam-center-strike-force-takes-major-actions-against-southeast-asian-scam-centers-targeting
• U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia · 2026-06-04 (local 06-03) · Scam Center Strike Force Announces Results of U.S. & Private Industry 'Disruption Week' · https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/scam-center-strike-force-announces-results-us-private-industry-disruption-week
• U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia · 2026-09-04 (local 09-03) · U.S. and UK Launch First-of-Its-Kind Joint Alliance to Dismantle Global Scam Centers · https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/us-and-uk-launch-first-its-kind-joint-alliance-dismantle-global-scam-centers
• U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia · 2026-09-10 (local 09-09) · Scam Center Strike Force Conducts Seizures of Chinese-Run Illicit Scammer Marketplace, and Restrains $52 Million in Laundered Crypto Scammer Funds In One Day · https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/scam-center-strike-force-conducts-seizures-chinese-run-illicit-scammer-marketplace-and