Key Takeaways
- • Chinese national Zheng Zhao, 44, was extradited from the Netherlands to Los Angeles and appeared in federal court after the U.S. Department of Justice announced the case on Oct. 23, 2026.
- • Prosecutors allege more than $36.9 million from accounts controlled by participants in a Cambodia-based crypto investment scam that targeted 174 identified Americans passed through a Deltec Bank account in the Bahamas.
- • Zhao faces a money-laundering conspiracy charge carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years; he is presumed innocent and is scheduled for arraignment on Nov. 30.
- • Eight co-conspirators have pleaded guilty, including ShengSheng He (51 months) and Jingliang Su (46 months), with restitution of $26,867,242.44 ordered in the cases cited.
Summary
A Chinese national, Zheng Zhao, 44, has been extradited from the Netherlands to Los Angeles over an alleged Cambodia-based crypto investment scam, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, which said on Oct. 23 that he had appeared in federal court after his extradition. The Los Angeles U.S. Attorney's Office said Zhao was ordered detained and scheduled for arraignment on Nov. 30. The DOJ said Zhao was charged in August 2025 with conspiracy to commit money laundering, a charge carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison if he is convicted. Zhao remains presumed innocent. Dutch authorities worked with the Justice Department's Office of International Affairs to secure his arrest and extradition. Neither release states an arrest date or describes the circumstances in which authorities located him.
According to prosecutors, overseas participants approached Americans through unsolicited social media messages, calls, texts and dating services, then directed victims to websites designed to resemble legitimate crypto trading platforms that displayed gains on money that had in fact been stolen. Victims' funds moved through U.S. shell companies, foreign bank accounts and digital asset wallets. More than $36.9 million passed from U.S. accounts controlled by participants into one account at Deltec Bank in the Bahamas. Prosecutors allege Zhao and others arranged for the bank to convert the funds into Tether's USDT and send them to a wallet controlled in Cambodia, from which USDT was transferred to scam-center leaders across the region. An earlier DOJ sentencing announcement identified the Bahamas account as belonging to Axis Digital Limited and named Sihanoukville, Cambodia among the locations where scam-center leaders received funds.
Eight co-conspirators have pleaded guilty. ShengSheng He, a former co-owner of Axis Digital Limited, received a 51-month sentence in September 2025 for conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, and the court ordered $26,867,242.44 in restitution. Jingliang Su was sentenced to 46 months on Jan. 27, according to the DOJ, after pleading guilty in June 2025 to a conspiracy to operate an illegal money transmitting business; U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner imposed the sentence and ordered the same restitution amount. Su had been in federal custody since December 2024. A separate January announcement listed a 36-month sentence for Jose Somarriba.
The case is part of a broader set of October enforcement actions against scam infrastructure. On Oct. 14, Brooklyn prosecutors and the FBI shut down 241 websites and seized 112 servers linked to an alleged Eastern European operation targeting Russian-speaking Americans, seizing approximately $300,000 in stolen funds. Separately, Coinbase said its investigators joined an Oct. 6–9 London event with the Justice Department's Scam Center Strike Force and the UK's National Crime Agency targeting West African scam networks, an effort the exchange described as tracing illicit flows and supporting asset freezes. In Zhao's case, the Secret Service's Global Investigative Operations Center leads the investigation, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations, Customs and Border Protection, the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service and the U.S. Marshals Service. Prosecutors Nisha Chandran and Alexander Gorin are handling the case.
According to prosecutors, overseas participants approached Americans through unsolicited social media messages, calls, texts and dating services, then directed victims to websites designed to resemble legitimate crypto trading platforms that displayed gains on money that had in fact been stolen. Victims' funds moved through U.S. shell companies, foreign bank accounts and digital asset wallets. More than $36.9 million passed from U.S. accounts controlled by participants into one account at Deltec Bank in the Bahamas. Prosecutors allege Zhao and others arranged for the bank to convert the funds into Tether's USDT and send them to a wallet controlled in Cambodia, from which USDT was transferred to scam-center leaders across the region. An earlier DOJ sentencing announcement identified the Bahamas account as belonging to Axis Digital Limited and named Sihanoukville, Cambodia among the locations where scam-center leaders received funds.
Eight co-conspirators have pleaded guilty. ShengSheng He, a former co-owner of Axis Digital Limited, received a 51-month sentence in September 2025 for conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, and the court ordered $26,867,242.44 in restitution. Jingliang Su was sentenced to 46 months on Jan. 27, according to the DOJ, after pleading guilty in June 2025 to a conspiracy to operate an illegal money transmitting business; U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner imposed the sentence and ordered the same restitution amount. Su had been in federal custody since December 2024. A separate January announcement listed a 36-month sentence for Jose Somarriba.
The case is part of a broader set of October enforcement actions against scam infrastructure. On Oct. 14, Brooklyn prosecutors and the FBI shut down 241 websites and seized 112 servers linked to an alleged Eastern European operation targeting Russian-speaking Americans, seizing approximately $300,000 in stolen funds. Separately, Coinbase said its investigators joined an Oct. 6–9 London event with the Justice Department's Scam Center Strike Force and the UK's National Crime Agency targeting West African scam networks, an effort the exchange described as tracing illicit flows and supporting asset freezes. In Zhao's case, the Secret Service's Global Investigative Operations Center leads the investigation, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations, Customs and Border Protection, the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service and the U.S. Marshals Service. Prosecutors Nisha Chandran and Alexander Gorin are handling the case.
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