U.S. authorities have charged two Chinese nationals with laundering $73 million from victims in a cryptocurrency scam, the Justice Department announced Friday.
Yicheng Zhang was arrested in Los Angeles on Thursday after an indictment was unsealed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Daren Li, who has dual citizenship in China and St. Kitts and Nevis, was detained at the Atlanta airport in April.
The two men are accused of running a cryptocurrency investment scam known as “pig butchering,” a fraudulent practice that has become a billion-dollar industry around the world. According to the indictment, Zhang and Li directed their accomplices to open bank accounts in the United States using shell companies. They then tricked the victims into depositing money into these accounts. The funds were laundered through American financial institutions and ultimately sent to bank accounts in the Bahamas.
“Fraud in cryptocurrency markets can take many forms and operate from many locations, but its perpetrators are not beyond the reach of the law,” said US Assistant Attorney General Lisa Monaco.
Zhang and Li are charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and six counts of international money laundering. If convicted, each could face up to 20 years in prison on each charge, according to the Department of Justice.
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