PANews reported on January 28 that, according to The Block, a 45-year-old Chinese man named Jingliang Su has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison by a U.S. federal court for his involvement in a cryptocurrency money laundering case involving $37 million, and has been ordered to pay more than $26 million in restitution.

According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, Su was a member of a global criminal network. This network contacted U.S. victims via text message, phone calls, and online dating, using fake websites impersonating legitimate cryptocurrency exchanges to lure them into fraudulent cryptocurrency investments. The victims' funds were then laundered through U.S. shell companies, digital asset wallets, and international bank accounts. Prosecutors stated that over $36.9 million ultimately ended up in an account at Deltec Bank in the Bahamas, was converted to USDT, and then transferred by accomplices in Cambodia to the ringleaders of the scam in the region. The government has identified 174 U.S. victims. Including Su, eight individuals involved have pleaded guilty.