A Chinese national has been sentenced to 28 months in federal prison for laundering approximately $3.5 million obtained from investment scam victims. Li Liu, also known as “Qiunan Li” and “Xiaoying Zhao,” aged 27 and residing in Los Angeles’ Koreatown neighborhood, received the sentence from United States District Judge Fernando M. Olguin.
Liu pleaded guilty on June 4 to conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The case involved so-called “pig butchering” schemes, a type of fraud where scammers build relationships with victims through dating services, social media, or unsolicited messages. The scammers eventually convince the victims to invest in fraudulent platforms. Victims are led to believe their investments are growing, prompting them to send more funds. Ultimately, they cannot recover their money and suffer significant losses.
According to court documents, Liu used a fake passport under the alias “Xia Ran” and other false documents in September 2024 to open a bank account for a fictitious company named Ocean X Trading Ltd Inc. She had access to this account until April 2025. Several investment scam victims wired money into this account; in October 2024 alone, Liu transferred $83,461 from it to Alamo Tech Ltd., a company based in Hong Kong.
Liu and her co-conspirators also used fake identification documents—including passports and California driver’s licenses—to open accounts at mail receiving facilities. They collected packages containing bulk cash sent by wire fraud victims.
In one example cited by prosecutors, Liu used a fake passport with the name “Qiunan Li” and documents for Sunny South Trading Inc. in March 2025 to open an account at a Koreatown shipping company. In April 2025, six packages containing bulk cash were received there; Liu picked up the packages, photographed their contents, consolidated the money, and sent it on to co-defendant Shaui Lyu and others.
Investigators found approximately 46 images of bulk currency on Lyu’s cellphone—many sent by Liu—with law enforcement estimating about $3.5 million was laundered using this method.
The conspiracy further relied on couriers who transported large sums of cash between cities such as Dallas and Los Angeles. To verify courier identities during pickups, co-conspirators used photographs of serialized U.S. dollar bills that both couriers and victims would display at handoff locations.
Liu admitted receiving payment for her role in laundering these funds. Law enforcement searching her residence recovered $104,000 in cash from fraud victims that had not yet been distributed to co-conspirators. Additionally, officers seized 27 uncollected packages from mail facilities containing around $285,000 in cash and $87,000 worth of gold bars.
Co-defendant Shaui Lyu—identified as an illegal alien from China—also pleaded guilty on June 4 to conspiracy to commit money laundering. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison at his sentencing hearing scheduled for September 4.
Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation into this case.
“Pig butchering” schemes have become increasingly prevalent across the United States as organized criminal groups target individuals through online interactions promising high returns on sham investments (https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-launches-initiative-combatting-financial-scams-targeting-vulnerable-populations).
Assistant United States Attorney Erik M. Silber prosecuted the case as Chief of the Post-Conviction and Special Litigation Section.
