What to Know Federal prosecutors charged Trung Nguyen Van with money laundering involving cryptocurrency transfers tied to a victim’s $16 million Triangle investment. Investigators traced rou
Trung Nguyen Van faces two money laundering charges over cryptocurrency transfers linked to a $16 million investment scam. Federal prosecutors allege that the 37-year-old Vietnamese national received funds connected to Triangle, a platform promoted to one victim.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri unsealed the complaint following Van’s appearance in a Los Angeles federal court. Investigators also linked his wallets to transfers associated with other alleged fraud victims.
Between June and August 2024, one victim sent approximately $16 million in cryptocurrency while believing they were investing through Triangle. Prosecutors traced part of those funds to Van’s wallet, including an August 7 transfer worth more than $569,000.
On August 9, the wallet received six transfers totaling roughly $569,569 that investigators linked to the same victim. Van then allegedly sent about $567,999 through four transactions to a private wallet. Those traced transactions account for only part of the victim’s alleged loss, not the full $16 million.
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The investigation reaches beyond Triangle and the victim named in the complaint. Prosecutors allege that Van’s wallets received approximately $53.3 million connected to fraud schemes targeting U.S. citizens between February 2018 and December 2024. The wallets then transferred about $53.2 million in cryptocurrency to other accounts, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Other U.S. victims reported combined losses of millions of dollars through schemes involving different investment websites. Investigators linked suspicious wallets associated with those losses to transfers into Van’s wallet.
Although the schemes used different websites, prosecutors allege that online contacts steered victims toward cryptocurrency investments promising high returns, only for them to discover they could not withdraw their funds.
Authorities call this type of fraud “pig butchering” because scammers build trust before seeking increasingly large investments. Contact can begin through a dating site, social media, text message, or a messaging application.
U.S. Attorney R. Matthew Price described the schemes as sophisticated fraud that has caused billions of dollars in losses worldwide. The FBI investigated the case, and prosecutors in Missouri brought the money laundering charges. Prosecutors must prove their case in court, and a jury would determine Van’s guilt or innocence.
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