A dual citizen of China and St. Kitts and Nevis was sentenced in absentia to the statutory maximum of 20 years in federal prison for his role in an international cryptocurrency investment conspiracy run from scam centers in Cambodia, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
Daren Li, 42, pleaded guilty in November 2024 to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner imposed the 240-month sentence and will determine restitution at a later date. Li is a fugitive after removing his ankle monitoring device and absconding in December 2025.
“While technology has made it possible for people to quickly communicate with others who live oceans away, it also has made it easier for criminals to prey on innocent victims,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said, urging the public to be cautious about online solicitations.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said Li and his co-conspirators laundered more than $73 million stolen from American victims. “The Court’s sentence reflects the gravity of Li’s conduct,” Duva said, adding that authorities will work with partners worldwide to return Li to the United States to serve his full sentence.
According to Li’s plea agreement:
- Co-conspirators contacted victims through unsolicited social media messages, phone calls and texts, and online dating platforms, building trust through purported professional or romantic relationships, often via end-to-end encrypted apps.
- They set up spoofed domains and websites that mimicked legitimate cryptocurrency trading platforms to push fraudulent investments. In other instances, impostors posed as customer service or tech support and induced victims to transfer funds to fix bogus computer problems.
- Li admitted he and co-conspirators caused at least $73.6 million in victim funds to be deposited into accounts tied to the scheme, including at least $59.8 million funneled through U.S. shell companies.
- To conceal the scheme, Li directed others to open U.S. bank accounts for shell companies, monitored interstate and international wire transfers, and oversaw the conversion of victim funds into virtual currency.
Eight co-conspirators have pleaded guilty to date. Li is the first defendant sentenced who was directly involved in the ultimate receipt of victim funds, according to prosecutors.
The U.S. Secret Service’s Global Investigative Operations Center is leading the investigation, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations’ El Camino Real Financial Crimes Task Force, Customs and Border Protection’s National Targeting Center, the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, the Dominican National Police, and the U.S. Marshals Service.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nisha Chandran (Major Frauds), Maxwell Coll and Alexander Gorin (National Security Division), along with Trial Attorney Stefanie Schwartz of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Trial Attorney Tamara Livshiz of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.
The sentencing is part of the Justice Department’s broader effort to disrupt scam-center operations worldwide by targeting cybercrime, cryptocurrency fraud, money laundering, human trafficking, and transnational organized crime networks, including seizing crime-linked cryptocurrency, dismantling digital infrastructure used to target U.S. victims, and disrupting domestic and international laundering pipelines. Since 2020, the Criminal Division’s CCIPS unit has secured convictions of more than 180 cybercriminals and court orders returning over $350 million to victims.
If you or someone you know is a victim of a digital asset investment fraud, report it to IC3.gov.
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