On 27 January 2026, the US DOJ announced the sentencing of Chinese national Jingliang Su, aged 45, to 46 months in federal prison. The United States District Judge R. Gary Klausner of the Central District of California also ordered Su to pay USD 26,867,242.44 in restitution.
Su pleaded guilty in June 2025 to one count of conspiracy to operate an illegal money transmitting business. He was part of an international criminal network that targeted 174 American victims through a digital asset investment conspiracy. The operation was similarly carried out from scam centres in Cambodia.
Overseas co conspirators contacted US victims through unsolicited social media interactions, telephone calls, text messages and online dating services. They gained victims’ trust and directed them to spoofed cryptocurrency trading platforms. Victim funds were then laundered through United States shell companies, international bank accounts and digital asset wallets.
Su joined a shell company known as Axis Digital and participated in crypto conversions and fund transfers. Co conspirators Jose Somarriba and ShengSheng He each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. He was sentenced to 51 months and Somarriba to 36 months in prison.
“This defendant and his co-conspirators scammed 174 Americans out of their hard-earned money, in the digital age, criminals have found new ways to weaponize the internet for fraud. The Criminal Division and its law enforcement partners have continued to evolve and caught large-scale scammers, who target people through their phones, social media, and fake internet sites, steal from them, and then move their money through cryptocurrency and wire transfers outside of the United States.” said US DOJ Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva.
Su has been in federal custody since December 2024. Eight co conspirators have pleaded guilty to date.
The USSS Global Investigative Operations Center investigated the case, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations, Customs and Border Protection, United States Department of State Diplomatic Security Service and Dominican National Police.
Regulatory Considerations on Stablecoin Conversion and Shell Entity Structures
The Su case discusses the use of stablecoin conversion and shell entities as laundering conduits. Compliance officers at cryptocurrency exchanges must enhance know your customer (KYC) protocols for corporate accounts. Entities with opaque beneficial ownership structures should consider triggering enhanced due diligence (EDD) procedures. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) identified in its 2025 report that USD 51 billion of illicit on chain activity was directly linked to fraud and scam schemes in 2024, with stablecoins increasingly used as a medium for laundering.
