A federal judge in California has sentenced Daren Li to 20 years in prison — the statutory maximum — for his role in a $73 million international cryptocurrency investment scam operated from scam centres in Cambodia. Li was sentenced in absentia after cutting off his electronic ankle monitor and fleeing in December 2025.
Li, 42, is a dual citizen of China and St. Kitts and Nevis. He had pleaded guilty in November 2024 to conspiracy to launder proceeds from cryptocurrency fraud. As part of his plea, Li admitted that at least $73.6 million in victim funds was deposited into bank accounts he controlled, with $59.8 million routed through US shell companies before being converted to cryptocurrency.
The operation was a textbook “pig butchering” scheme. Co-conspirators contacted victims through unsolicited social media interactions, phone calls, text messages, and online dating services, building trust through fake professional or romantic relationships. Victims were then directed to spoofed cryptocurrency trading platforms designed to resemble legitimate exchanges. The platforms showed fabricated returns, encouraging victims to deposit increasing amounts. The money was stolen from the outset.
Li was arrested at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in April 2024. Eight co-conspirators have already pleaded guilty. Li is the first defendant at his level of involvement to be sentenced in the case.
What an investigator sees
The pig-butchering model has become the single largest category of crypto-enabled fraud globally. The scale is staggering — Cambodia-based scam centres alone are estimated to generate over $30 million per day in victim losses, according to TRM Labs, with over $96 billion in crypto flowing to Cambodia-linked entities since 2021.
The human dimension is equally disturbing. Many of the people staffing these scam centres are themselves victims of human trafficking — lured to Cambodia, Myanmar, or Laos with promises of legitimate employment, then held in compound-like conditions and forced to run fraud operations. The intersection of crypto fraud, money laundering, and human trafficking makes pig butchering one of the most complex financial crime typologies in operation today.
Li’s flight — cutting an ankle monitor after pleading guilty — illustrates the enforcement challenge. The $5 million bounty offered by DOJ for his arrest signals how seriously prosecutors view the case. But tracking a fugitive with a St. Kitts passport and connections across Southeast Asia is precisely the kind of cross-jurisdictional challenge that makes these cases difficult to close.