Five Men Plead Guilty in Cambodia Scam-Center Crypto Fraud That Laundered More Than $36.9 Million
On June 9, 2025, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, announced that five men had pleaded guilty to a conspiracy behind a global digital-asset investment fraud run out of scam centers in Cambodia, which laundered more than $36.9 million in victim funds through U.S. bank accounts.
Joseph Wong, 33, of Alhambra, in Los Angeles County, and Yicheng Zhang, 39, of China, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries up to 20 years in prison; Zhang has been in custody since May 2024. Jose Somarriba, 55, of Los Angeles; Shengsheng He, 39, of La Puente, in Los Angeles County; and Jingliang Su, 44, of China and Turkey, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, which carries up to five years; Su has been in custody since November 2024. Eight co-conspirators have now pleaded guilty in the case, including Daren Li, who pleaded guilty in November 2024, and Lu Zhang, who pleaded guilty in May 2024.
Prosecutors said overseas co-conspirators contacted U.S. victims through social media, phone calls, text messages and dating services, gained their trust, and falsely claimed their digital-asset investments were growing in value while stealing the money. More than $36.9 million in victim funds was sent from U.S. bank accounts controlled by co-conspirators to a single account at Deltec Bank in the Bahamas held in the name of Axis Digital Limited. Somarriba, He and Su directed the bank to convert the funds into the stablecoin USDT and transfer them to wallets controlled in Cambodia, where the money was passed to scam-center leaders in places including Sihanoukville. Somarriba and He founded Axis Digital and opened the account, and Su participated as a director; Wong managed a Los Angeles money-laundering network that registered shell companies, opened accounts and wired money internationally, while Zhang opened and operated two U.S. bank accounts used for laundering.
The case was led by the U.S. Secret Service's Global Investigative Operations Center, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service, among other agencies.
(Source: U.S. Department of Justice)
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于加利福尼亚州洛杉矶县洛杉矶市市中心的 Edward R. Roybal 联邦大楼，加州中区联邦检察官办公室所在地。DocFreeman24 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, home of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. Photo by DocFreeman24, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
- 2025-06-09Five Men Plead Guilty in Cambodia Scam-Center Crypto Fraud That Laundered More Than $36.9 MillionThis story
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