LOS ANGELES
A La Puente man was sentenced Monday to 51 months in federal prison for laundering more than $36.9 million in a global digital asset investment scam that targeted U.S. victims through Cambodian fraud centers, officials announced Monday.
Shengsheng He, 39, was also ordered to pay nearly $26.9 million in restitution by U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner.
Shengsheng pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to operate an illegal money transmitting business.
Prosecutors said He and co-conspirators tricked Americans into transferring money for supposed cryptocurrency investments. Instead, funds were funneled through U.
S. shell companies, moved overseas, and converted into the stablecoin Tether before being sent to wallets controlled by scam centers in Cambodia.
Authorities said victims were lured through unsolicited social media messages, phone calls, and dating apps, and told their investments were growing even as their money was stolen.
Eight other defendants have pleaded guilty, including ringleaders who managed U.S.-based laundering networks and accounts at Deltec Bank in the Bahamas.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service’s Global Investigative Operations Center.