Taiwanese prosecutors have reportedly charged 14 individuals in what is being described as the largest cryptocurrency money laundering case in the country, involving more than 1,500 victims and over $70 million in illicit funds.
The Shilin District Prosecutor’s Office has indicted these individuals on various charges, including fraud, money laundering, and organized crime. They have requested the confiscation of 1.275 billion New Taiwan dollars, equivalent to $39.8 million, which was allegedly acquired from victims through fraudulent means, as stated in a recent report by local media outlet UDN.
Additionally, prosecutors are seeking to confiscate another 640,000 USDt (USDT), undisclosed amounts of Bitcoin (BTC) and Tron (TRX), over $1.8 million in cash, two luxury vehicles, and approximately $3.13 million in bank deposits. The remaining proceeds are set to be recovered in due course.
The accused group is alleged to have laundered $71.9 million gathered from unsuspecting victims in cash, which was then converted into foreign currency and sent overseas to purchase USDT via Taiwanese cryptocurrency exchange BiXiang Technology.
The prosecution has released a money laundering flow chart alongside the indictment to demonstrate the group’s illicit activities.
Money laundering flow chart. Source: Shilin District Prosecutor’s Office, UDN.
The investigation began in April when the 14 individuals were apprehended, including ringleader Shi Qiren, who faces a potential 25-year prison sentence as the main suspect in the money laundering operation and for refusing to plead guilty, according to UDN.
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Over 1,500 victims defrauded through a non-licensed crypto exchange
Prosecutors claim that since 2024, Qiren, his wife Ms. Lin, and a manager surnamed Yang worked together to establish 40 stores across Taiwan under the names “CoinW” and “CoinThink Technology Co., Ltd.” They collected millions in franchise fees while using a partner firm to set up deposit machines to gather cash from victims.
They allegedly misrepresented themselves as the sole company authorized by Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission, defrauding 1,539 individuals out of $71.9 million through franchise fees and cash collection machines.
The group also experienced a secondary fraud, according to prosecutors, when another individual surnamed Gu allegedly deceived Shi into paying $93,000 under false pretenses related to securing Anti-Money Laundering registration.
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The indictment comes shortly after a crypto influencer received a one-year prison sentence for money laundering and wire fraud after defrauding two significant cloud computing providers in a large-scale cryptojacking scheme.
A month prior, a Russian citizen reportedly laundered $530 million through U.S. banks and crypto exchanges, using USDT to facilitate payments for Russian clients linked to sanctioned banks, as reported by Cointelegraph on July 17.
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