A federal court in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California has sentenced Daren Li, a 42-year-old dual national of China and St. Kitts and Nevis, to 20 years in prison for orchestrating a global cryptocurrency investment fraud that stole more than $73 million from victims, many of them in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The sentence, which also includes three years of supervised release, was imposed in absentia after Li fled the United States in December 2025 by cutting off his electronic monitoring device and becoming a fugitive, U.S. prosecutors said.
Daren Li was sentenced in absentia, meaning he was not present in court. In December 2025, he became a fugitive after cutting off his electronic ankle monitoring device and fleeing. U.S. authorities stated that international efforts are ongoing to locate and return him to the United States to serve his sentence.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said the sentence reflects the seriousness of the crime and the severe financial harm caused to victims nationwide. The case highlights the growing threat of international cryptocurrency fraud and the damage it causes to individuals and families.
Daren Li and the Cryptocurrency Investment Scheme
The cryptocurrency investment scam was carried out by an international conspiracy operating from scam centers in the Kingdom of Cambodia. Members of the group contacted victims through social media, phone calls, text messages, and online dating platforms. These contacts were unsolicited and designed to slowly build trust.
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According to court documents, scammers often posed as professionals or romantic interests. After establishing relationships, they encouraged victims to invest in cryptocurrency using fraudulent and spoofed websites that looked like real trading platforms. These sites displayed fake profits, leading victims to believe their investments were successful.
In other versions of the scam, victims were falsely told they were communicating with customer service or technology support representatives. The scammers claimed that the victims’ computers were infected with viruses or had serious technical problems. Victims were then persuaded to send money through wire transfers or cryptocurrency trading platforms to fix issues that did not exist.
Scammers commonly used end-to-end encrypted messaging applications, making it harder for victims to identify or trace those behind the fraud. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli warned the public that while technology makes communication easier, it also allows criminals to target victims from far away.
Money Laundering, Guilty Plea, and Investigation Details
On November 12, 2024, Daren Li pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder money obtained from cryptocurrency scams and related fraud. As part of Daren Li plea agreement, he admitted that the conspiracy caused at least $73.6 million in victim funds to be deposited into bank accounts controlled by him and his co-conspirators.
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Court records show that at least $59.8 million of the stolen funds moved through U.S.-based shell companies. Daren Li admitted that he directed co-conspirators to open U.S. bank accounts for these shell companies and monitored both interstate and international wire transfers. He also oversaw the conversion of stolen funds into virtual currency to conceal the source and ownership of the money.
Authorities confirmed that eight co-conspirators have pleaded guilty in connection with the case. Daren Li is the first defendant sentenced who was directly involved in the final receipt and management of victim funds.
The investigation was led by the U.S. Secret Service Global Investigative Operations Center, with support from Homeland Security Investigations’ El Camino Real Financial Crimes Task Force, Customs and Border Protection’s National Targeting Center, the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, the Dominican National Police, and the U.S. Marshals Service.
The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Stefanie Schwartz of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, Trial Attorney Tamara Livshiz of the Fraud Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maxwell Coll, Alexander Gorin, and Nisha Chandran for the Central District of California. Since 2020, federal cybercrime prosecutors have secured convictions against more than 180 cybercriminals and obtained court orders for the return of over $350 million in victim funds.