Article
【Chinese National Extradited to the United States over Alleged Involvement in Crypto Fraud Targeting the U.S. and Canada, Funds Involved Exceed 36900000 USD】
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California October 23 stated that 44-year-old Chinese national Zheng Zhao was extradited from the Netherlands to the United States for allegedly participating in a transnational cryptocurrency investment fraud scheme targeting U.S. citizens, and appeared in court for the first time that day. Zhao has been ordered detained and is scheduled to appear in court again on November 30. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. According to court documents, the fraud network was based at scam centers in Cambodia and contacted U.S. victims through social media, telephone calls, text messages, and dating platforms. It lured victims to invest through websites impersonating legitimate cryptocurrency trading platforms, falsely claiming that their investments were continuing to increase in value. The funds were subsequently laundered through U.S. shell companies, international bank accounts, and digital-asset wallets. The investigation showed that more than 36900000 USD of victims’ funds were transferred from U.S. bank accounts controlled by the network into a single account at Deltec Bank in the Bahamas. Zhao and other co-conspirators arranged for the funds to be converted into USDT, then transferred to digital-asset wallets controlled by entities in Cambodia, and ultimately distributed to the operators of scam centers in Cambodia and surrounding areas. The scheme involved at least 174 confirmed U.S. victims. To date, 8 co-conspirators have pleaded guilty. The U.S. Department of Justice emphasized that criminal charges are not evidence of guilt, and that Zhao is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.