A transnational money laundering case involving cryptocurrency "pig butchering" scams has come to a close, with a Beijing man sentenced to 46 months in prison for allegedly embezzling $36.9 million.

PANews reported on January 31 that, according to Caixin, Su Jingliang, a 46-year-old Chinese man from Beijing, was sentenced to 46 months in prison and ordered to pay $26.87 million (approximately 187 million yuan) in restitution for participating in a "pig butchering" scam that laundered over $36.9 million (approximately 256 million yuan). The US had previously dismantled a transnational fraud and money laundering ring that built trust with victims through social media or dating apps, then guided them to fake cryptocurrency trading platforms for so-called "investments." Funds from 174 US victims flowed into 74 shell company accounts registered in the US, and were converted into Tether (USDT) once the funds were received.

It is reported that Su Jingliang played a key "accountant" role in this "pig butchering" telecom fraud chain. He communicated with employees of Deltec Bank through the encrypted communication tool Telegram, received funds from shell companies in the United States, and directed the bank to quickly convert the transferred US dollar assets into the stablecoin USDT and send them to a specific virtual currency wallet starting with "TRteo". The funds in this wallet eventually flowed to fraud dens in Southeast Asia.