American Ordered to Repay $26.8M in Victim Restitution After Crypto Scam

Shengsheng He from La Puente, was ordered to serve 51 months in prison and repay nearly $27 million after admitting to helping move money through offshore channels tied to a sprawling investment hoax.

From Dating Apps to Offshore Banks

The operation that He supported began not in trading floors but in text messages, social media chats, and online dating apps. Unsuspecting victims were persuaded to send money for what appeared to be profitable crypto investments. Instead, the funds were routed through a maze of shell companies and bank accounts, stripped of their origin, and wired overseas.

Prosecutors said almost $37 million from American investors was pushed into an account at Deltec Bank in the Bahamas, under the name of Axis Digital Limited — a firm He co-owned. Once there, the money was converted into stablecoins and transferred to wallets run by networks in Cambodia, particularly in Sihanoukville, where scam centers coordinated payouts to ringleaders.

Federal Response

The Justice Department framed the case as part of a broader fight against transnational crime exploiting digital assets. “Scam centers posing as legitimate crypto businesses have become a serious threat to American investors,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti, stressing that U.S. authorities will pursue culprits regardless of geography.

A Network of Co-Conspirators

He was not the only one brought down by the investigation. At least eight others have already pleaded guilty, including Chinese nationals Daren Li and Lu Zhang, who were accused of running a laundering network inside the United States to support the overseas scam organizers.

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A Growing Pattern

Officials warn that the case mirrors a disturbing pattern: international fraud groups exploiting crypto’s global reach to disguise the movement of stolen funds. What often begins with a casual text or a dating site chat can lead to multimillion-dollar losses for victims, while criminal groups leverage offshore banks and digital wallets to stay ahead of regulators.

For He, the sentence marks the end of his role in the scheme. For U.S. authorities, however, the fight against crypto-linked fraud rings appears far from over.

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