A U.S. federal judge has sentenced a Chinese national to more than two years in prison for her role in laundering about $3.5 million from victims via investment scams as part of the so-called pig butchering fraud schemes.
Liu Li, 27, of Los Angeles, was sentenced to 28 months in prison on Aug. 15, after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering on June 4, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. Li also used aliases such as “Qiunan Li” and “Xiaoying Zhao.”
Pig butchering scams involve fraudsters who build trusting relationships with victims before convincing them to invest in fake opportunities. The scammers then instruct victims to transfer money to fraudulent platforms that may appear and operate like legitimate ones. These platforms would show huge monetary gains, thus allowing scammers to encourage their victims to invest more. Eventually, victims are unable to take their money back, resulting in significant financial losses….