Debiex Ordered to Pay $2.5M After CFTC Alleges Crypto Scam

Highlights:

• Debiex used fake romantic relationships to lure victims into fraudulent crypto investments.
• A US judge ordered Debiex to return $2.26M and pay a $221,500 penalty.
• Debiex’s “money mule” must transfer 63 ETH and USDT to a victim.

Debiex has been accused of operating a romance scam by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and has been ordered by a US federal court to pay about $2.5 million. This comes after a lawsuit filed against the crypto trading platform based in Arizona accusing the platform of fraud through social media.

Crypto platform Debiex must pay $2.5M in CFTC ‘pig butchering’ case

Crypto platform Debiex has been ordered to pay around $2.5 million after it failed to respond to a US Commodity Futures Trading Commission suit accusing it of being a romance scam ring.

Arizona federal court… pic.twitter.com/OZexpNyUvU

— MetaEra (@MetaEraHK) March 17, 2025

Court Rules Against Debiex in CFTC Case

Judge Douglas Rayes of Arizona approved CFTC’s motion for summary judgment on the 13th of March on the ground that Debiex had given no reply to the allegations. The order involves a refund of about $2.26 obtained from the victims and a civil penalty of about $221,500. The court pointed out that Debiex failed to avail its defense with a plea of “excusable neglect”

In January 2024, the CFTC sued Debiex stating that it had been involved in a fraudulent scheme referred to as “pig butchering.” The fraud concerned the creation of social engineering links with the intended victims with the purpose of winning their trust before leading them into the transfer of funds into the fake crypto trading platform.

As per records filed in court, the five victims were defrauded to the tune of about $2.3 million. Upon deposit, Debiex offered fake account statements of the fund and trading activities, thus directing investors’ money into unknown digital wallets controlled by unidentified people.

Debiex Used Romance Scams to Defraud Victims

CFTC explained how Debiex’s staff was using fake female identities on social platforms to deceive potential victims. These scammers spent their time chatting with victims, gave out their fake photographs, and pretended to be professional cryptocurrency traders. They encouraged victims to transfer money into Debiex, which presented itself as a futures trading and mining platform.

When the victims provided their money, the platform inflated profit numbers and created illusory trading balances. However, the deposited funds were never actually invested to carry out the purpose for which they were deposited. Rather, Debiex redirected the money into several other wallets in order to obscure the ultimate recipient. In its complaint, the CFTC alleged that all information given to the customers was probably misleading.

Zhāng Chéng Yáng, a key principal actor in the scheme, allegedly served as a “money mule.” The authorities claimed that his crypto wallets received and disbursed the stolen cash. The court discovered that he owned an OKX wallet with assets that he could not legally own in the first place.

Judge Orders Crypto Transfer to Victims

On March 12th, Judge Rayes granted a default judgment against Zhāng and entered nearly 63 Ether and $5.70 in tether USDT from his OKX wallet to a victim. Since the commencement of the investigation, OKX has been voluntarily conserving those assets. The sum of all the seized assets was valued at $119,500.

Recent data from the blockchain security firm Immunefi revealed a rising trend in losses connected to cryptocurrencies. In February 2025 only, the registered losses were 20 times higher than the previous month. This amounted to $1.53 billion resulting from nine major hacks.