Ringleader sentenced to 20 years for $73.6 million romance‑fraud and money‑laundering scheme

Summary

A 42‑year‑old man, Daren Li, was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison for leading a romance‑fraud operation that laundered about $73.6 million from elderly victims. The scheme used dating and professional platforms such as BLK, Tinder, CashApp and Bitcoin ATMs to convince victims like Kate Kleinert, Beth Hyland and Jackie Crenshaw to send gift cards, loans and cryptocurrency. Federal agents from the FBI and the FTC highlighted the case as an example of the growing link between romance scams and larger crypto‑money‑muling operations, which have caused severe financial and emotional harm to victims.