The scammers convinced victims to transfer millions of dollars into these U.S. bank accounts, which were then used to launder the illicit funds.
United States authorities arrested two individuals accused of masterminding a money laundering scheme, which involved funneling over $73 million through U.S. financial institutions and ultimately converting the funds into Tether (USDT).
The Justice Department announced on Friday that Daren Li, 41, was arrested at Atlanta’s airport on April 12, and Yicheng Zhang, 38, was taken into custody in Los Angeles on Thursday. An indictment charging the pair was unsealed in a California court on Thursday, revealing their alleged roles in the scheme.
Li, Zhang, and their cohorts allegedly ran a transnational criminal network that laundered millions from ‘pig butchering’ crypto scams, where fraudsters gain victims’ trust, convince them to invest large sums, and then disappear with the funds.