Federal authorities have delivered a significant blow to international cryptocurrency fraud operations, sentencing Chinese national Jingliang Su to nearly four years in prison for his role in a massive digital asset laundering scheme that defrauded Americans of over $36.9 million.
Su received a 46-month prison sentence after helping to launder proceeds from a sophisticated scam operation based in Cambodia that targeted 174 American victims. The sentencing revealed just one player in what prosecutors describe as a sprawling international criminal network.
Multi-Million Dollar Operation Dismantled
“This defendant and his co-conspirators scammed 174 Americans out of their hard-earned money,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, who emphasized the department’s commitment to pursuing such cases.
Su wasn’t working alone. Shengsheng He, a 39-year-old California resident and co-owner of Axis Digital Limited, received an even stiffer penalty — 51 months behind bars — and was ordered to pay $26.8 million in restitution for his participation in the scheme, court documents show.
The operation’s technical sophistication was notable. Investigators discovered that He facilitated money laundering through complex Tether (USDT) transfers directed to Cambodia-based scam centers, creating a deliberately convoluted financial trail designed to evade detection.
What’s perhaps most concerning about this case? It appears to be just one example of a growing trend in global fraud operations targeting Americans through seemingly legitimate cryptocurrency investment opportunities.
Cambodia Connection Exposes Wider Network
In total, five men including Jose Somarriba, He, and Su have pleaded guilty to charges related to laundering the nearly $37 million extracted from victims through investment scams operated from Cambodia’s Sihanoukville region, legal filings indicate.
The court has characterized one of the defendants as the mastermind behind what prosecutors called a “$37 million crypto money laundering scheme,” sentencing this individual to four years in prison, according to case documentation.
Federal prosecutors detailed how the California-based He received a 51-month federal prison sentence specifically for laundering the proceeds from what they described as a “global digital asset investment scam.”
The case highlights how foreign scam centers offering digital asset investments have proliferated in recent years, with security experts warning that many such operations are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their targeting and operational security.
Digital Weaponization
“In the digital age, criminals have found new ways to weaponize the internet for fraud,” noted the Justice Department in its statement on Su’s sentencing. The department emphasized that its Criminal Division and law enforcement partners remain committed to pursuing such cases across international boundaries.
For victims of these schemes, recovery remains challenging. While the court has ordered significant restitution, the international nature of these crimes — spanning from California to Cambodia and involving Chinese nationals — creates jurisdictional complexities that can make asset recovery difficult even after successful prosecutions.
As cryptocurrency adoption continues to grow worldwide, these sentences serve as both a warning to potential scammers and a sobering reminder to investors: in the still-evolving digital asset landscape, extraordinary returns often come with extraordinary risks — sometimes including the complete disappearance of your investment into the pockets of international fraudsters.
