Sought-after criminal Daren Li profits from a Dubai villa as he evades a 20-year conviction

Daren Li, who has fled a 20-year sentence for for his alleged role in stealing and laundering $73 million in Cambodia-based cryptocurrency scams, rents out a villa in Dubai

Daren Li, a Chinese and Saint Kitts and Nevis national on the run from a 20-year United States prison sentence for his role in a large Cambodia-based cryptocurrency scam operation owns property in Dubai, real estate records show.

Tenancy contract data shows that under his Saint Kitts passport, Li owns a five bedroom residential villa in Wadi Al Safa 7, a gated community in Dubai’s suburbs. 

As of last year, this property was leased to a Chinese national, on a contract valid at least up until September 2025, which was generating AED250,000 ($68,000) in annual income for Li. Records also show he had leased it out to another Chinese national the previous year, on a similar contract basis.

Li was sentenced in absentia on Monday to 20 years in federal prison by the Central District Court of California for his role in a cryptocurrency investment conspiracy that allegedly laundered more than $73 million stolen from U.S. citizens, said a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

He pleaded guilty in November 2024 to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering but is now a fugitive after cutting an electronic monitoring device from his ankle and absconding in December 2025, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Contacted by email this week after his sentencing, Li wrote to OCCRP that the U.S. verdict was “unjust,” that he had been “deceived and induced to plead guilty,” and that his legal team had filed an appeal. He did not answer OCCRP questions about his property in Dubai.

.In his guilty plea, Li allegedly told U.S. authorities that he and co-conspirators established spoof domains and websites to dupe victims into investing in fraudulent cryptocurrency trading platforms. 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said in his plea he also admitted to laundering the proceeds of these scams by directly depositing the ill-gotten funds into U.S. shell companies which then opened bank accounts and eventually converted the money into cryptocurrencies.

In announcing his April 2024 arrest at Atlanta’s international airport, the U.S. Secret Service alleged the money was converted from bank accounts in the Bahamas into the virtual asset USDT, or Tether.

Li is among eight alleged co-conspirators who have pleaded guilty to the scheme. At least three other of his alleged co-conspirators have also been sentenced to prison.