Crypto scam mastermind gets 20 years for $73M pig butchering scheme

A US court sentenced Daren Li to 20 years in prison for leading a $73 million crypto pig butchering scam targeting American investors.

A dual national of China and St. Kitts and Nevis has been sentenced to 20 years in US federal prison for orchestrating a global cryptocurrency scam that stole more than $73 million from victims, many of them American investors.

Forty-two-year-old Daren Li received the statutory maximum sentence in the Central District of California, along with three years of supervised release, according to a statement issued Tuesday by the US Department of Justice (DOJ).

Prosecutors said Li and at least eight co-conspirators established spoofed domains and websites resembling legitimate trading platforms to promote fraudulent crypto investments after gaining victims’ trust, a scheme known as pig butchering or phishing scams.

Read more