Update, Aug. 22, 12:54 pm UTC: This article has been revised to include CoinW exchange’s statement regarding the indictment.
Taiwanese prosecutors have reportedly indicted 14 individuals in what is described as the largest cryptocurrency money laundering case in the country, involving over 1,500 victims and exceeding $70 million in illicit funds.
The Shilin District Prosecutor’s office has charged the 14 with fraud, money laundering, and organized crime, seeking the confiscation of 1.275 billion New Taiwan dollars ($39.8 million), allegedly obtained through fraudulent means from victims, as per a Friday report from local media source UDN.
Prosecutors also requested the confiscation of an additional 640,000 USDt (USDT), undisclosed Bitcoin (BTC) and Tron (TRX) assets, over $1.8 million in cash, and two luxury vehicles. They reportedly seized bank deposits totaling $3.13 million, with further proceeds expected to be recovered later.
The accused were charged with laundering $71.9 million gathered from unsuspecting victims in cash, which was then converted to foreign currency and transferred abroad to acquire USDT via Taiwanese cryptocurrency exchange BiXiang Technology.
The prosecution released a money laundering flow chart along with the indictment to clarify the group’s operations.
Authorities initiated the investigation in April when the 14 suspects were arrested, including ringleader Shi Qiren, who could face a 25-year sentence as the main suspect in the case and for his refusal to plead guilty, UDN reported.
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Over 1,500 victims deceived through an unlicensed crypto exchange
Prosecutors allege that since 2024, Qiren, along with his wife and a manager identified as Yang, operated 40 locations across Taiwan under the names “CoinW” and “CoinThink Technology Co., Ltd.,” collecting millions in franchise fees before using a partner firm to establish deposit machines to gather cash from victims.
They purportedly claimed to be the sole firm authorized by Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission, defrauding 1,539 individuals out of $71.9 million through franchise fees and cash collection devices.
Additionally, the group fell victim to a separate fraud when another suspect, known as Gu, allegedly deceived Shi into paying $93,000 under false promises of securing Anti-Money Laundering registration.
CoinW denied any links to the money laundering case, asserting that “the company’s management has never engaged in any illegal money laundering or fraudulent activities.”
For any accounts or transactions implicated in fraud or money laundering, the platform will proceed legally, as stated by the cryptocurrency exchange in a release on Friday.
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The indictment was announced shortly after a crypto influencer received a one-year prison sentence for money laundering and wire fraud following a major cryptojacking scheme that defrauded two significant cloud computing providers.
Just a month prior, a Russian citizen allegedly laundered $530 million through U.S. banks and cryptocurrency exchanges utilizing USDT to facilitate payments for Russian clients connected to sanctioned banks, as reported by Cointelegraph on July 17.
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