The United States Ministry of Justice (DoJ) sentenced the California man to more than four years in prison for participating in a global cryptography scam where the victims counted more than $ 30 million in losses.
Shengsheng Heg, 39, of Puente, was sentenced to California on Monday to 51 months in the central district. He previously pleaded guilty on April 10 for a conspiracy in order to operate a company to transmit money without license which bleached $ 36.9 million to the crypto.
With a prison sentence, the court ordered to pay more than $ 26.8 million Restitution to victims of the diagram.
Doj judge the guilty for a crypto silver scam
According to a statement From the American DoJ, he was one of the brains of a network that targeted American investors thanks to investments in fraudulent digital assets.
“The defendant was part of a group of co-conspirators who attacked American investors by promising them a high return on investments of alleged digital active assets when they stole nearly $ 37 million to American victims using Cambodian scams,” said assistant journalists.
Galeotti also mentioned that scam centers Operating abroad, in particular those who present themselves as investment opportunities, have increased considerably in recent years.
“The criminal division is determined to justify those who steal American investors, wherever fraudsters can be located,” he said.
According to court documents shared in the media on Monday, the conspiracy involved several co-conspirators based in the United States and abroad, Use of centers in Cambodia. The group contacted the American victims via messages on social networks, telephone calls, text messages and even online dating services.
The crooks first won the confidence of crypto holders, then persuaded them to invest in “profitable cryptography companies”. The victims were informed that their investments increased in value, but the funds had already been siphoned.
More than $ 36.9 million were channeled American bank accounts in a single account in Deltec Bank in the Bahamas, recorded under AXIS Digital Limited. He co -founded Axis Digital with another accused, Jose Somarriba, while Jingliang su Chinese then joined as a director.
The victims’ funds were deposited in Daltec, then converted into a stable of the attachment (USDT). Prosecutors said that he and others asked the bank to transfer digital assets to wallets controlled by accomplices in Cambodia. From there, the operators of Scam Center in cities as Sihanoukville received the Crypto, which was then transmitted to the “leaders” of the program.
According to the MJ declaration, eight co-conspirators appointed to the case had already admitted guilt in relation to the operation. The list of silver launders included Daren Li, a citizen of China and St. Kitts and Nevis, who has been in police custody since April 2024, and Lu Zhang, another illegal American immigrant, who told prosecutors that he had managed domestic money launders.
American lawyer: beware of the public of online scams
The American prosecutor Bill Essayli of the California central district said that he was a warning to demography by trying to use digital assets to whiten stolen money.
“This accused will spend years in the federal prison for participating in a conspiracy in which the victims have lost tens of millions of dollars, starting with the simple stage of response to unlined messages on their phones,” said Essayli.
He told the Americans to counter the foreigners promoting online investment opportunities. “Your retirement fund or children’s college money may depend on it,” he added.
The assistant lawyers of the United States Maxwell Coll and Alexander Gorin of the Crimes of Terrorism and Exports section, Nisha Chandran of the main fraud section, and the lawyer for the trial, Stefanie Schwartz, the IT property section of the DoJ (CCIPS) (CCIPS), led the prostitution.
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