US law enforcement officers have arrested two Chinese citizens, Daren Li and Yicheng Zhang, on charges of laundering at least $73 million related to cryptocurrency fraud.
"Crypto investment fraud uses the limitless nature of virtual currency and online communications to deceive victims. [...] These arrests reflect the Ministry of Justice's ongoing commitment to destroying the entire cybercrime ecosystem and ending fraud in all financial markets," Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said.According to court documents, Li, Zhang and other accomplices ran an international syndicate to launder funds obtained through fraud with investments in cryptocurrencies.
According to the investigation, the victims were tricked into transferring millions of dollars to bank accounts in the United States opened in the names of dozens of shell companies.
Then they were allegedly transferred to other domestic and international accounts of financial organizations and wallets of cryptocurrency platforms, as well as converted into USDT stablecoin.
One of the addresses used in the scheme received assets totaling more than $341 million.
Li and Zhang face up to 140 years in prison.
Recall that in May, top managers of the Cred crypto lending platform were charged in the United States with conspiracy to launder money and fraud in the amount of $783 million.
On April 29, a suspect was arrested in the Netherlands for involvement in the ZKasino blockchain casino scam.