Defendants Allegedly Defrauded Victims of Almost $18 Million as Part of “Pig Butchering” Investment Fraud and Money Laundering Schemes and Illegally Converted More Than $52 Million of Cash to Cashier’s Checks. “For once the name of a scam - pig butchering - reflects the grotesque nature of the harm it causes victims. We allege these fraudsters bled dry each of their victims and then used the money to set up fake cryptocurrency accounts."

"We know there are many more victims of these types of scams, and we urge those people to report it to the FBI. We will do all we can to bring each and every criminal to justice,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Driscoll." “These defendants betrayed the trust of hundreds of people for profit, stealing millions of dollars through their brazenly callous investment scheme,” said NYPD Commissioner Sewell."

"Through this scam, more than 200 victims were contacted through messaging applications and convinced to invest almost $18 million in trading platforms by sending funds to purported money manager bank accounts that were later stolen." "The defendants also operated an unlicensed money transmitting business in which they converted approximately $52 million in cash into cashier’s checks on behalf of customers."

"As payment for their services, the defendants received a fee, which was generally a portion of the fee that the business received."