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Alyssa Chen

The United States is offering a reward of up to US$4 million for information leading to the arrest of a Chinese national who fled the US after being convicted of money laundering.
The bounty on fugitive Daren Li, 43, was announced by the State Department on Thursday through its Transnational Organised Crime Rewards Programme.
Separately on Thursday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said it had charged two Chinese nationals accused of managing an industrial-scale fraud compound in Myanmar.
Li was convicted and sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison in February by the US Court for the Central District of California.
He had pleaded guilty in November 2024 to conspiring to launder funds obtained from victims through cryptocurrency scams and related fraud in Southeast Asia.
In December 2025, Li removed his electronic monitoring device and fled, according to the DOJ.
Court documents show that Li holds dual citizenship in China and St Kitts and Nevis – a two-island country in the eastern Caribbean Sea – and at various times has lived in China, Cambodia and the United Arab Emirates.
In a statement on Thursday, the State Department said: “Scam centres use the services of money launderers who use cryptocurrency to transfer scam proceeds from victims in the US and to avoid detection through anti-money laundering provisions.”
Cryptocurrency is used by scam centres to send funds across international borders and bypass traditional banking safeguards designed to flag suspicious activities.
Washington is targeting money launderers like Li to crack down on the financial networks that sustain organised crime.


According to court documents, Li had instructed his co-conspirators to open US bank accounts on behalf of shell companies and monitored interstate and international wire transfers of victims’ funds.
Li admitted that his network had handled at least US$73.6 million in funds from victims, including at least US$59.8 million from American shell companies that laundered victim proceeds.
Separately, Chinese nationals Huang Xingshan and Jiang Wenjie have been charged with wire fraud conspiracy. Prosecutors allege they were running a cryptocurrency investment fraud at the Shunda Park compound in Myanmar that ran for about a year before it was seized by armed forces in November.
Huang was also accused of imposing physical punishment on trafficked workers, while Jiang was allegedly a team leader supervising workers who targeted American victims, according to a DOJ statement on Thursday.
It said the suspects had moved to another scam compound in Cambodia and were arrested in Thailand on immigration charges earlier this year.
“The [Shunda] compound used scam websites and mobile applications disguised as legitimate investment platforms to defraud victims, including Americans. Workers within the compound were trafficked individuals who were held against their will and forced to defraud victims under the threat of violence and torture,” the DOJ statement said.
“Under Jiang’s supervision, one of the people under his command successfully defrauded a single American victim of over US$3 million utilising a fraudulent investment platform. The theft was celebrated within the organisation as a paradigm of success.”

The US government has stepped up its campaign against Southeast Asian scam centres. It set up the Scam Centre Strike Force in November, an interagency unit that coordinates between the DOJ, the FBI and the US Secret Service.
Americans were defrauded of at least US$10 billion by Southeast Asia-based scam networks in 2024, according to a March report by the government’s US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
It said fraud centres were integrating artificial intelligence to extend their reach and make their schemes more convincing and harder to detect.
The bounty on Li is part of a broader US-coordinated crackdown that includes the seizure of 503 fraudulent domains used for crypto-investment scams and a Telegram channel that posted fake job ads to lure people to a scam compound in Cambodia near the border with Thailand.
US authorities on Thursday also announced sanctions on Cambodian Senator Kok An and 28 associates accused of controlling a nationwide network of scam compounds.
Scam centres in Southeast Asia have evolved into a significant global humanitarian and human rights crisis, with a UN report released in February estimating that over 300,000 individuals had been trafficked and forced into labour within heavily guarded compounds.
A number of mainland Chinese have been implicated in the organised crime syndicates that run these scam centres. In response, Beijing has also sought to crack down on transnational cyber scams in Southeast Asia, leading to the execution of scam kingpins and mass extradition of fraud suspects.
China is working with Thailand and Myanmar under a trilateral cooperation mechanism set up in early 2025 that led to raids in the Myawaddy region of Myanmar and the deportation of more than 900 Chinese suspects back to China.
Beijing also leads the Lancang-Mekong Integrated Law Enforcement and Security Cooperation Centre – an initiative involving Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.


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America offers US$4 million bounty for arrest of Chinese money launderer

Chinese national Daren Li, 43, fled the US in December. He was convicted and sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison in February. Photo: Handout

Huang Xingshan (left) and Jiang Wenjie have been charged with wire fraud conspiracy. Photos: US Department of Justice

China calls on Cambodia for ‘shared security and risks’ during global turmoil

Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun (from left) and Foreign Minister Wang Yi link arms with Prak Sokhonn, Cambodian deputy prime minister, and Cambodian Defence Minister General Tea Seiha. Photo: Handout/Agence Kampuchea Press

‘A game of whack-a-mole’: how could the scam industry bring China and the US together?

Illustration: Davies Christian

A Cambodian police officer stands guard near a deserted scam compound in Kampot province, Cambodia, in February. Photo: Reuters

Food was available from morning until night at the scam compound in Kampot province, Cambodia, but workers who left their desks were obliged to notify a supervisor, and personal phones were subject to periodic checks. Photo: Laura Zhou

Located in a secluded area of Cambodia bordering Vietnam, the scam compound known as My Casino housed 6,000 to 7,000 people across 31 multi-storey buildings, according to authorities. On January 17, the facility’s alleged boss, Ly Kuong, was detained, enabling thousands to flee. Photo: Laura Zhou

A photo from inside the abandoned scam compound in Kampot province, Cambodia, shows “client” lists including target earnings and amounts extracted so far. Photo: Laura Zhou

More Southeast Asian human trafficking gangs use crypto to move illegal funds

Soldiers raid the KK Park online scam centre in Myawaddy township, Karen state, Myanmar, last year. Photo: AP 

People from China, Vietnam and Ethiopia, believed to have been trafficked and forced to work in scam centres, under guard after their release from the centres in Myawaddy district, Myanmar, last year. Photo: AP

A scam call centre compound in Laos seen in 2022. Photo: Nathan Paul Southern

China accuses extradited billionaire Chen Zhi of running a crime network from Cambodia

Chen Zhi is accused of multiple crimes, including opening a casino, fraud, illegal operations and concealing criminal proceeds, according to China’s Ministry of Public Security. Photo: Handout

The arrest and extradition of Chinese national Chen Zhi come amid Beijing’s efforts to combat telecoms fraud crimes beyond the mainland. Photo: Handout

Why China was so keen to get to alleged cybercrime boss Chen Zhi first

Illustration: Henry Wong


Chen Zhi was extradited from Cambodia to China earlier this month. Photo: Handout

China does not recognise cryptocurrencies like bitcoin as legal tender. Image: Shutterstock

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China

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Daren Li fled the US after admitting he conspired to launder funds obtained from victims in cryptocurrency scams and fraud in Southeast Asia


Daren Li fled the US after admitting he conspired to launder funds obtained from victims in cryptocurrency scams and fraud in Southeast Asia.


America offers US$4 million bounty for arrest of Chinese money launderer

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Daren Li fled the US after admitting he conspired to launder funds obtained from victims in cryptocurrency scams and fraud in Southeast Asia

Daren Li fled the US after admitting he conspired to launder funds obtained from victims in cryptocurrency scams and fraud in Southeast Asia