A Chinese scammer responsible for laundering $73 million in stolen funds was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a U.S. federal court — but the sentence was delivered in absentia after the defendant cut off his ankle monitor and fled the country in December. 

Daren Li, 42, pleaded guilty in November 2024 to conspiring with others to launder funds obtained from victims through cryptocurrency scams and related fraud. Li and several others led an international pig butchering scheme that saw people in Cambodian scam centers steal millions from Americans through an assortment of romance and financial scams.

The dual citizen of China and St. Kitts and Nevis admitted in his plea agreement that at least $73.6 million in victim funds were deposited into bank accounts his team controlled. Of the $73.6 million, $59.8 million was routed through U.S.-based shell companies.

The DOJ did not respond to questions about Li’s whereabouts. Other than the sentencing document issued by prosecutors ahead of the hearing, most of the documents related to the case were sealed by the DOJ. 

“The Court’s sentence reflects the gravity of Li’s conduct, which caused devastating losses to victims throughout our country,” said Assistant Attorney General Tysen Duva. 

“The Criminal Division will work with our law enforcement partners around the world to ensure that Li is returned to the United States to serve his full sentence.”

In addition to the 20-year sentence, Li was also given three years of supervised release. 

Li was the first defendant to be sentenced who prosecutors say was directly involved in receiving the money stolen from victims. Eight other co-conspirators have also pleaded guilty.

Li was arrested in April 2024 at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, a month before an alleged co-conspirator Yicheng Zhang was detained in Los Angeles.

Like most pig butchering operations, the scammers offered victims romantic connections or fictitious investment opportunities — urging them to deposit funds into spoofed domains and websites that resembled legitimate cryptocurrency trading platforms.

In some cases the scammers would pretend to be customer service representatives and urge victims to send funds to fix non-existent viruses or other false computer-related problems.

Li led the effort to launder the money once it was sent by victims. He and other co-conspirators would open U.S. bank accounts through shell companies that could hold the money. 

Prosecutors asked the judge for a significant sentence for Li because multiple victims came forward to say they lost large sums of money, and in some cases their entire life savings. 

After years of inaction, officials in the U.S. and China have taken more robust steps to shut down scam centers based in Cambodia and other Southeast Asian countries. 

China executed four members of the Bai crime family last week after they were accused of running cyber scam compounds in Myanmar. Another 11 members of the Ming crime family were executed last month for running similar cyber scam compounds. 

A key leader in the cyber scam laundering effort — Prince Group chairman Chen Zhi — was recently arrested in Cambodia and extradited to China. The arrest has set off chaotic scenes in Cambodia as both human trafficking victims and cyber scam compound workers flood out of jail-like facilities and crowd embassies seeking assistance.