CLEU Scam Update 2026: How to Claim Your Share of the $214M DOJ Remission Fund

Quick Recovery Checklist: CLEU Remission 2026

If you lost money in the CLEU scam, here are the three critical facts you need to know right now:

• The DOJ has secured $214 million for victim restitution via the Remission Fund.

• You must file a formal Petition for Remission through the court-appointed administrator (Kroll) to be eligible for a payout.

• To participate as a lead plaintiff in the parallel civil class-action lawsuit, you must act before March 31, 2026.

As of early February 2026, the CLEU scam, also known as the “Cedric syndicate”, remains one of the year’s largest fraud recovery efforts. Here is the breakdown of why it’s in the news right now:

The company, China Liberal Education Holdings Ltd(CLEU), was allegedly being used as the vehicle for a massive $200 million plus “ramp-and-dump” scheme. 

On the surface, CLEU presented itself as a credible Chinese educational technology and services firm. It acted as an intermediary that offered joint venture programs between Chinese universities and international academic institutions for higher learning. It partnered with colleges such as the Fuzhou Melbourne Polytechnic (FMP), promising local students an international curriculum without needing to leave China.

By portraying itself as a company that solved a need and as one that has a high potential for scaling massively in the future, the company hoped to attract unsuspecting investors. 

CLEU solidified its investor allure by going public on the Nasdaq Capital Market in May 2020, subsequently getting the ticker symbol “CLEU”. However, it later got delisted from the stock exchange due to fraud. 

Subsequently, it moved to the over-the-counter Pink Open Market(Pink Sheers), changing its ticker symbol to “CLEUF.” Usually, when a foreign company is delisted from a major exchange and moves to the decentralized over-the-counter market, an “F” is typically added to the end of the symbol to indicate it’s a foreign ordinary share. As of 2026, it still trades under this symbol.

How The CLEU Scam Worked

The China Liberal Education Holdings Ltd scheme employed a next-gen, sophisticated version of a “ramp and dump” scheme. Instead of traditional boiler-room phone calls and emails, it relied on social media algorithms and encrypted messaging to trap thousands of investors. These algorithms included:

• Meta’s Lookalike Audiences algorithm—helped them identify thousands of Facebook users with similar interests, behaviors, and income levels.

• TikTok’s Recommendation algorithm/engine—scammers posted videos of luxury cars, stacks of cash, private jets and other opulent lifestyle stuff, using trending financial hashtags like #StockMarket or #WealthGap. If you watched more than 3 seconds of a video, the Recommendation Algorithm assumed you wanted more.

Subsequently, the CLEU scam operatives would gradually flood your feed with “financial advice” and motivational content, promising that following their insights would lead to a luxury lifestyle.

The China Liberal Education Holdings Ltd syndicate operated in three distinct phases:

Phase 1: The “Invisible” Supply

According to the DOJ, the China Liberal Education Holdings Ltd fraud operated by secretly controlling some 240 million shares through offshore shell companies. At the same time, the public and the Nasdaq believed the company had only about 29 million shares in existence.

In late 2024, CLEU merged every 15 existing ordinary shares into 1 new share. This action reduced the number of public shares,  artificially boosting the price above $1.00. It made the stock look “healthy” to unsuspecting investors. Keep in mind that fewer shares can increase the value per share. A share is like a claim on a company’s earnings and assets, and when there are fewer claims, each remaining one becomes more valuable.

Phase 2: The Pump

Immediately afterwards, those behind the syndicate launched a massive marketing campaign on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram, relying on the social media algorithms as explained earlier. . 

Ads impersonated “famous” investment advisors or institutions like Goldman Sachs or Sequoia Financial.

Clicking an ad led you to a private WhatsApp group with names like “Goldman Sachs Wealth Club” or “Warren Buffett Academy.”

A “mentor” spent weeks building trust by giving “winning” tips on famous stocks like Apple or Tesla. Once the victims were hooked, they led them to buy CLEU stocks.

Phase 3: The Dump

The final phase was the actual theft, which occurred between January 22 and January 30, 2025.

Mentors deceived thousands of victims to buy at exactly the same time, often claiming a “major buyout” was coming. This created a surge of “buy” orders from big retail investors like Joshua Bouck.

As thousands placed “buy” orders at high prices (at over $7.00), the CLEU stock fraud introduced the hidden 240 million shares to fulfill those orders, defrauding investors out of hundreds of millions. 

CLEU Fraud Update 2026: $214M Seized and Fugitives Named

As of February 2026, the status of the probe into the China Liberal Education Holdings Ltd. (CLEU) scandal is highly promising. The US has accomplished a successful asset recovery, and uncovered the masterminds behind the scheme. 

The recovery of the $214 million was achieved by the FBI in collaboration with the DOJ. Because the scammers were operating from overseas, authorities mainly zeroed in on their U.S. brokerage accounts, which were used to defraud U.S.-based investors, the majority of their victims.

With many victims located in the United States, the fraudsters had to move the hidden shares mentioned earlier into accounts at major U.S. brokerage firms in order to sell them.

As the syndicate “dumped” their shares in January 2025, the cash from those sales began accumulating in these specific accounts.

The FBI, working with the SEC, used advanced blockchain and bank-tracing tools to identify these accounts in real-time as they were being used by Lim Xiang Jie Cedric and his associates. Based on unsealed court documents and agency partnership disclosures as of 2026, the “advanced tools” likely used in the CLEU investigation include:

• Chainalysis, TRM Labs, and Elliptic—-blockchain tracing tools. 
• Palantir Gotham, FinCEN Query—bank-tracing and financial forensics. 
• SAS Detection and Investigation— A forensic toolkit. 

Just before the scammers could wire the ill-gotten millions to offshore banks in Malaysia and Taiwan, the U.S. moved in, swiftly seizing the funds. 

Identities Of The Top Criminals Behind the CLEU Scam

According to the latest Department of Justice (DOJ) update from February 3, 2026, the primary individual defendants behind the “ramp-and-dump” scheme remain at large. The seven indicted defendants, according to the DOJ indictment (Case No. 1:25-cr-00161), are: 

• Lim Xiang Jie Cedric (Malaysia).
• Ming-Shen Cheng (Resident of Taiwan).
• Ko Sen Chai (Resident of Malaysia).
• King Sung Wong (Resident of Malaysia).
• Siong Wee Vun (Resident of Malaysia).
• Chien Lung Ma (Resident of Taiwan).
• Kok Wah Wong (Resident of Malaysia).

N/B: There are active, outstanding federal arrest warrants for several other key players believed to be operating internationally, mostly from jurisdictions that have complex extradition processes with the US.

The $214 Million Seizure (The Major “Win” for Victims)

• On February 3, 2026, the DOJ officially opened the CLEU Remission Fund to distribute the seized millions back to the victims.

• Several law firms filed new class-action updates this week (Feb 4, 2026), targeting China Liberal Education Holdings Ltd and its associated overseas shell companies that allegedly helped perpetuate the syndicate.

N/B: The extradition barrier is the primary reason these CLEU syndicate top masterminds haven’t been arrested yet. The FBI cannot simply walk into Malaysia or Taiwan and make an arrest. They have to navigate the process through the local governments. 

While Malaysia has an extradition treaty with the US, Taiwan does not, further complicating the process. Also, the local police have to conduct their own parallel investigation to verify the U.S. claims before Lim Xiang Jie and his cohorts can be legally arrested.

What to Do Urgently if You Are a CLEU Scam Victim (2026 FBI Update)

If you have information about the individuals who contacted you (phone numbers, WhatsApp handles, or wallet addresses), the FBI is still actively seeking this data to help track them down.

The good news is that you can file for a part of the $214M recovered by the US government.  To do so, you must submit your formal Petition for Remission through the official court-appointed administrator:

• Official Portal: the DOJ’s CLEU Remission Page
• Verified URL: https://www.cleuremissionfund.com

Follow the simple instructions, and if you need professional assistance, go to our Reporting Page, or email [email protected]. 

CLEU Scam Filing Deadlines (Updated February 2026)

According to the latest(February 2026) announcements by the US Department of Justice, if you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in the related civil class-action lawsuit, the deadline is March 31, 2026. Please note that this deadline is for the Civil Class Action only. The DOJ Remission process has its own separate procedure. 

A lead plaintiff is the person or entity appointed by the court to act as the legal “captain” for all the victims. This is usually the person or entity who has the largest financial interest in the case(basically the person or entity who lost the most money to the scam). So far, no individual or entity has been appointed the lead plaintiff to the case by court. However, several people and entities have submitted their petitions for remission, including:

N/B

The DOJ remission fund is now open, but windows for recovery can close unexpectedly. We strongly advise you to file your Petition for Remission immediately. Reach out to us at [email protected], and we’ll guide you through the process to help you secure your claim as soon as possible.