Two people have been arrested after law enforcement said they orchestrated a scheme to launder more than $73 million through U.S. financial institutions and ultimately convert it into cash. rope USDT
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Darren Li, 41, was arrested April 12 at the Atlanta airport. The Justice Department said Yicheng Zhang, 38, was arrested Thursday in Los Angeles on related charges. name On Friday. The indictment charging the two men was unsealed Thursday in a California court.
According to the statement, Li, Zhang and others allegedly controlled an “international syndicate” that laundered money through a “pig slaughter” cryptocurrency investment scam. Pig slaughter scams involve scammers gaining the trust of their victims, persuading them to give them large sums of money, and then running off with the money. member of Congress and regulatory body Concerns about these types of scams have been raised over the past few months.
alleged plan
Victims were persuaded to send millions of dollars to US bank accounts that were used to launder the proceeds. The Ministry of Justice said the funds were later transferred to other domestic and foreign bank accounts.
“The fraud scheme included laundering more than $73 million through U.S. financial institutions into Bahamian bank accounts and converting it to USDT (Tether), a virtual asset,” the DOJ said. “Cryptocurrency wallets involved in this scheme received over $341 million in virtual assets.”
Li and Zhang were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and six counts of international money laundering. Each count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
“Cryptocurrency investment fraud takes advantage of the borderless nature of virtual currencies and online communication to defraud victims,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement. “Scams in the cryptocurrency market take many forms and hide in remote places, but their perpetrators are not beyond the reach of the law.
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