A federal grand jury in the Southern District of California returned an indictment against Thet Min Nyi, a Burmese national, and a fugitive co-defendant on charges of wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy stemming from operations at the Ko Thet Company scam compound [1]. In coordinated criminal complaints filed the same day, prosecutors charged three additional defendants, Wiliang Awang, Andreas Chandra, and Lisa Mariam, with wire fraud conspiracy tied to the Sanduo Group and Giant Company, two separate pig-butchering enterprises operating out of Southeast Asia [1]. The charges were announced April 24, 2026, alongside at least 276 arrests conducted internationally in coordination with Dubai Police [1].
The cases center on so-called pig-butchering scams, a fraud model in which operators cultivate victims through fabricated romantic or investment relationships, then induce them to transfer funds, typically cryptocurrency, to fraudulent trading platforms. The compounds in Myanmar and Cambodia have drawn sustained federal attention as hubs that also coerce laborers, often through trafficking, into conducting the fraud [1]. The Justice Department's Scam Center Strike Force, operating in conjunction with the FBI, has jurisdiction over the domestic charging instruments under federal wire fraud statutes, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1343 and 1956 governing money laundering [1].
The indictment against Thet Min Nyi reflects a grand jury finding of probable cause; the criminal complaints against Awang, Chandra, and Mariam represent preliminary charging instruments subject to further grand jury review [1]. The unnamed fugitive co-defendant in the Thet Min Nyi indictment remains at large, and the international arrest sweep suggests active extradition or foreign prosecution tracks running parallel to the Southern District proceedings [1]. The USAO for the Southern District of California is lead domestic prosecutor [1].
The next procedural steps will turn on whether the fugitive co-defendant can be located and whether foreign governments will transfer any of the 276 arrested individuals for prosecution in the United States. The criminal complaint defendants face arraignment and potential indictment. Given the transnational complexity and the cryptocurrency asset flows at issue, asset forfeiture proceedings are a likely parallel track.
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