DOJ Pig-Butchering Seizure — Southeast Asia Networks (July 2026)
Summary
On July 21, 2026, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia filed five civil forfeiture complaints targeting more than $25 million in Tether (USDT) linked to pig-butchering scam networks operating from compounds in Southeast Asia. The July action was one component of a broader 2026 enforcement campaign — the Scam Center Strike Force — that by mid-year had frozen and seized over $800 million in cryptocurrency traced to Chinese transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) running forced-labor scam factories in Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, and Laos.
Connected Entities
1 entities · 10 linked investigationsTimeline(11 events)
2024-01-01
FBI and U.S. Secret Service launch Operation Level Up to proactively notify active pig-butchering victims.
FBI Operation Level Up page2025-11-01
DOJ establishes the Scam Center Strike Force, a multi-agency unit targeting Chinese TCOs running scam compounds in Southeast Asia.
DOJ USAO-DC press release2025-11-01
Karen National Liberation Army seizes the Shunda compound in Min Let Pan, Burma; investigators later recover 8,000 phones and 1,500 computers. Compound operators Huang Xingshan and Jiang Wen Jie relocate to Cambodia.
DOJ Office of Public Affairs press release (April 23, 2026)2025-12-01
Daren Li, having pleaded guilty in a U.S. federal case to laundering $73.6 million in pig-butchering proceeds, removes his electronic ankle monitor and flees the United States, becoming a fugitive.
CoinDesk (February 10, 2026)2026-02-10
A California federal court sentences Daren Li in absentia to 20 years in prison for laundering at least $73.6 million in pig-butchering proceeds through U.S.-based shell companies.
CoinDesk2026-02-26
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro announces cumulative Strike Force seizures and freezes have exceeded $580 million.
IRS Criminal Investigation press release2026-02-27
DOJ announces seizure of approximately $61 million in Tether (USDT) linked to pig-butchering scam operations, with Tether credited for cooperation.
The Hacker News2026-04-23
DOJ, OFAC, FBI, and State Department execute a coordinated multi-agency action: criminal complaints unsealed against Huang Xingshan and Jiang Wen Jie for the Shunda compound; OFAC sanctions Cambodian Senator Kok An and 28 associated individuals and entities; 503 fraudulent cryptocurrency domains seized; a Telegram trafficking recruitment channel shut down; and the State Department announces a $10 million reward for Tai Chang compound information.
DOJ Office of Public Affairs; U.S. Treasury OFAC2026-05-18
DOJ Disruption Week begins, involving voluntary cooperation from Apple, Coinbase, Google, Meta, Microsoft, SpaceX/Starlink, TRM Labs, and others to disable over 1.4 million scam-related accounts and infrastructure.
The Hacker News (June 4, 2026)2026-06-04
DOJ announces the results of Disruption Week: $3.8 million in cryptocurrency frozen by private sector partners (Coinbase alone: $3 million), 1.4 million accounts disrupted, 20,000 Microsoft accounts disabled, and 7 arrests by Thai police.
The Hacker News2026-07-21
U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia files five civil forfeiture complaints targeting over $25 million in Tether (USDT) across five fraud categories: fake investment platforms (~$10.4M), romance scams (~$12.09M), Zoomex domain spoofing (~$2.39M), MicMarkets fake platform (~$1.77M), and a two-stage recovery scam (~$284,900). No individual defendants are named.
DOJ USAO-DC; CryptoTimes; Crypto BriefingDecision Log
- #1publish⛓ pending7/31/2026, 5:18:16 PMhash: HvXLy9pE91LKNWF74fYGtkRm4yHo4JkvndxMCPQcbhsJ
25 of 30 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 7/31/2026, 5:18:06 PM
last updated: 7/31/2026, 7:05:11 PM
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