A Chinese national extradited from the Netherlands appeared in a Los Angeles federal court on Oct. 23 over his alleged role in an international cryptocurrency scam that targeted 174 U.S. citizens through scam centers in Cambodia.
Zhao Zheng, 44, who was charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering in August 2025, was ordered held in custody during his court appearance and is scheduled to be arraigned on Nov. 30, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
“This extradition should be a lesson to all those who seek to exploit vulnerable Americans from overseas,” Assistant Attorney General Andrew Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in a statement on Oct. 23.
“We will pursue charged defendants anywhere in the world, especially those who are alleged to have stolen money, converted it to cryptocurrency, and used foreign financial institutions in the process to try to hide and obfuscate their crimes.”
Eight of Zhao’s co-conspirators have pleaded guilty, including He ShengSheng and Su Jingliang, both of whom pleaded guilty to conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. Su, a resident of the United Arab Emirates, was sentenced to 46 months in January, and He, of La Puente, California, was sentenced to 51 months in September 2025.
According to court documents, Zhao was part of an international criminal network that sought to defraud U.S. citizens through fake cryptocurrency investment schemes. At first, overseas co-conspirators reached out to people through social media, phone calls, text messages, and online dating services to build trust. They then persuaded victims to invest in cryptocurrency through fraudulent websites designed to look like legitimate trading platforms.
The victims were then instructed to transfer their money to accounts controlled by co-conspirators, who laundered the proceeds through U.S. shell companies, international bank accounts, and digital asset wallets, according to court documents.
More than $36.9 million of the victims’ money was eventually funneled into a single account at Deltec Bank in the Bahamas, according to court documents. The funds were converted into the stablecoin Tether and transferred to a digital wallet in Cambodia, where co-conspirators distributed the cryptocurrency to scam center leaders nationwide.
Todd Bratz, special agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Criminal Investigative Division, reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to pursuing transnational criminal networks that exploit the American people.
“Secret Service investigators and our law enforcement partners remain unwavering in their commitment to identify those who operate scam centers, disrupt their financial infrastructure, and bring them to justice,” Bratz said in a statement on Oct. 23.
The Epoch Times was unable to find contact details for Zhao or his lawyer to reach out for comment.
Two of Zhao’s co-conspirators have also been sentenced.
Daren Li was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison in February. A dual citizen of China and St. Kitts and Nevis, Li pleaded guilty in November 2024, but the Justice Department stated at the time of his sentencing that he was a fugitive after he severed his ankle electronic monitoring device and absconded in December 2025.
According to prosecutors, Li directed co-conspirators to open U.S. bank accounts on behalf of shell companies.
Zhang Yicheng, a citizen of China and resident of Temple City, California, was sentenced to 18 months in September 2025.
According to a court document, Zhang opened and operated two U.S. bank accounts that served as intermediaries for receiving and transferring victim funds to other accounts.
