Daren Li

On February 9, 2026, in the Central District of California, Daren Li was sentenced to a maximum of 240 months in federal prison for his role in an international cryptocurrency investment conspiracy carried out from scam centers in Cambodia.Li pleaded guilty in November 2024 to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. As part of his plea agreement, Li admitted that unindicted members of the conspiracy would contact victims directly through unsolicited social-media interactions, telephone calls and messages, and online dating services. The unindicted co-conspirators would gain the trust of victims by establishing either professional or romantic relationships with them, often communicating by electronic messages sent via end-to-end encrypted applications. These co-conspirators established spoofed domains and websites that resembled legitimate cryptocurrency trading platforms and promote fraudulent cryptocurrency investments to the victims after gaining the victims’ trust.In some instances, the co-conspirators would induce victims into investing in cryptocurrency through the fraudulent and spoofed investment platforms. In other iterations of the scam, Li’s unindicted co-conspirators misrepresented to victims that they were from a customer service or technology support company and induced victims to send funds via wire transfer or cryptocurrency trading platforms to purportedly remediate a non-existent virus or other false computer-related problem.As part of his plea agreement, Li admitted that he and his co-conspirators caused at least $73.6 million in victim funds be directly deposited into bank accounts associated with defendant and his co-conspirators, including at least $59.8 million from U.S. shell companies that laundered victim proceeds.Li further confessed that, to conceal or disguise the nature of the crime, location, source, ownership, and control of the victim funds, he would direct co-conspirators to open U.S. bank accounts established on behalf of shell companies and would monitor the receipt of interstate and international wire transfers of victim funds. Li and other co-conspirators would receive victim funds in financial accounts that they controlled and then monitor the conversion of victim funds to virtual currency.Li is a fugitive after cutting off his ankle electronic monitoring device and absconding in December 2025.If you have information regarding this individual, please contact the U.S. Secret Service via email at MostWanted@usss.dhs.gov or via Signal at USSSMostWanted.1865.

Relevant links: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/man-sentenced-20-years-prison-role-73-million-global-cryptocurrency-investment-scam, https://www.state.gov/releases/bureau-of-international-narcotics-and-law-enforcement-affairs/2026/04/daren-li-2/, /sites/default/files/reports/2026-04/Daren-Li-Reward-Poster.pdf