LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles man was sentenced to three years in federal prison and ordered to pay $26.8 million for his role in laundering more than $36.9 million from victims of an international digital asset investment scam based in Cambodia, officials announced Tuesday.
Jose Somarriba, 56, pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money services business. He and four co-defendants were part of a network that convinced U.S. victims to transfer funds for supposed digital asset investments. Instead, the money was diverted to accounts controlled by the conspirators.
Court documents show that the co-conspirators contacted victims through unsolicited social media messages, phone calls, text messages, and online dating platforms, building trust to promote fraudulent digital asset schemes. Victims were led to believe their investments were growing, while in reality, the funds were stolen.
Nearly $37 million in victim funds were funneled from U.S. bank accounts to a single account at Deltec Bank in the Bahamas, held under the name Axis Digital Limited. Somarriba co-founded Axis Digital and opened the Deltec account. The funds were then converted into cryptocurrency and transferred to digital wallets controlled by individuals in Cambodia, who subsequently moved the money to leaders of scam centers in the region.
Earlier, co-defendant Shengsheng He, 40, of La Puente, received a sentence of four years and three months in federal prison for his participation in the scheme and was ordered to pay restitution.
