California woman sentenced to jail for local cryptocurrency scam

A California woman was ordered Wednesday to serve at least five months in jail for her role for an attempted scam involving cryptocurrency investments.

Yamei Shi, 35, pleaded guilty in Westmoreland County to felony counts of deceptive business practices and the criminal use of a communication device as part of a plot to bilk an undercover state police trooper who posed as a local businessman.

Shi, who appeared in court without a lawyer and with the help of a Mandarin translator, was sentenced by Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Mears to serve up to 23 months in jail. The judge said Shi is to be paroled as early as next month.

“Honestly, I can’t stand being in jail,” Shi said through her translator when asked by the judge why she pleaded guilty to the charges.

As part of the plea deal, prosecutors dismissed charges of racketeering, theft and an additional deceptive business count. Shi was at first suspected of bilking a local victim, officials said, but instead was the target of a sting operation initiated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security based on allegations she operated a similar scam in Michigan.

Prosecutors said Shi claimed to represent a bogus financial institution selling investments in cryptocurrency exchange.

Federal law enforcement learned Shi was in Westmoreland County and called in the state police to set up a sting in New Stanton. According to court records, an agent made contact with Shi to make a $200,000 investment.

Agents met Shi in hotel parking lot in New Stanton, where an agent exchanged bag of cash for what investigators said in exchange for a crytpo “token” that was actually a $1 bill.

Shi has been in jail in lieu of a $500,000 bond since her arrest Nov. 18.

Assistant District Attorney Matthew Wirick said there were no immigration detainers lodged against Shi prior to her arrest and that she had no record of criminal convictions in the United States. He said Shi held legal residency status, but had no information whether she faced deportation following her guilty plea.