On 21 March 2025, the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (US CFTC) announced that the United States District Court for the District of Arizona has issued a pair of default judgments against Debiex, a digital asset trading platform, and Zhang Cheng Yang, a relief defendant linked to the scheme. The United States District Court for the District of Arizona issued a Judgment dated 13 March 2025, found Debiex liable for violations of the United States Commodity Exchange Act and US CFTC regulations, permanently banning the entity from trading on US CFTC-regulated markets or registering with the Commission. In a separate but related Judgment dated 12 March 2025 passed by United States District Court for the District of Arizona, Zhang Cheng Yang was ordered to return funds received without legal entitlement, having acted as a money mule in the scheme.
These Judgments, arises from a US CFTC complaint filed on 17 January 2024, which alleged that Debiex orchestrated a sophisticated online romance scam to misappropriate customer funds under the guise of digital asset commodity trading. The judgments collectively require Debiex to pay over $2.2 million in restitution and a $221,466 civil monetary penalty, while also ordering the return of digital assets worth approximately $120,000 from Zhang’s wallet to a defrauded customer.
The complaint filed by the US CFTC alleged Debiex of violating Section 6(c)(1) of the United States Commodity Exchange Act, 7 U.S.C. § 9(1), and corresponding regulations under 17 C.F.R. § 180.1(a)(1) and (3). According to the court’s findings, Debiex operated fraudulent trading platforms through public websites and used a “Sha Zhu Pan” or “pig butchering” scheme to solicit investments under the guise of romantic relationships The case centres on a complex fraud orchestrated through publicly accessible websites by Debiex. According to the US CFTC complaint, the scheme relied on three organised groups: “Solicitors,” who targeted U.S. customers through social media and fabricated online relationships to encourage investment; “Customer Service,” who pretended to set up and manage trading accounts; and “Money Mules,” including Zhang, who facilitated the laundering of customer funds. Victims were led to believe their assets were being traded on live platforms, but no such trading occurred. The supposed accounts were fabrications designed to simulate legitimate investment returns.
The court found that between March 2022 and the filing of the complaint i.e. 17 January 2024, five customers were fraudulently induced to transfer approximately $2.3 million in digital assets. These funds were never used for trading as promised but were instead misappropriated through digital asset wallets, including one controlled by Zhang. The websites merely mimicked legitimate trading platforms and presented fabricated profits and trading activity, deceiving victims into repeated deposits.
On 12 March 2025, the court entered a default judgment against Zhang, who had failed to respond to the complaint. The ruling ordered the transfer of all digital assets in his wallet, 62.94155 ETH and 5.7041258 USDT, back to one of the victims, Customer D, whose funds had been traced to Zhang’s account. Zhang, a Chinese national, was deemed to have received these assets without providing any services and had no legitimate claim to them. The ruling was grounded in established precedent allowing equitable relief against a party in possession of illicit funds without a valid entitlement.
On 13 March 2025, the court also granted a default judgment against Debiex. In addition to finding it liable for fraud under federal commodities law, the order permanently enjoins Debiex from participating in any commodity trading, registering with the US CFTC, or engaging in any CFTC-regulated markets. It mandates restitution of $2,257,337.01 and imposes a civil monetary penalty of $221,466. The National Futures Association (NFA) was appointed as the Monitor to oversee collection and distribution of restitution to victims.
Director of Enforcement Brian Young stated: “This judgment demonstrates the CFTC’s ongoing commitment to protecting U.S. citizens from online scams, I commend Jenny Chapin, Dmitriy Vilenskiy, and former Division Deputy Director Joan Manley for their diligent and innovative work on this matter.”
The United States Division of Enforcement (DOE) acknowledged assistance from the FBI’s Phoenix Office in pursuing the case. In addition to the lead team, Jennifer Diamond, Mary Lutz, and Elizabeth Padgett of the International Enforcement Cooperation Unit also contributed to the effort.
(Source: https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/9058-25)
