Hong Kong busts $192 million crypto money laundering ring
A gang of four, including a family of three, set up multiple shell companies to “successfully” launder dirty money using crypto.
Hong Kong Customs reported that it had successfully busted a HK$1.5 billion (US$192 million) money laundering ring through cryptocurrency transactions and more than 200 bank accounts.
The gang, which carried Hong Kong identity cards and consisted of four members including a family of three - a 39-year-old man, a 66-year-old father, and a 54-year-old mother - reportedly used more than 200 bank accounts of six shell companies set up by each individual to receive suspicious amounts of money.
The fourth member of the gang is a 31-year-old taxi driver who was allegedly paid HK$70,000 a month to help the gang launder dirty money through overseas cryptocurrency trading platforms.
Inspector Poon Yip-kan of the Customs Financial Investigation Department said that HK$1.5 billion was transferred to the bank accounts of offshore shell companies through 2,000 transactions between August 2020 and August 2022. Most of the money was "related" to overseas criminal activities, including using cryptocurrencies to launder dirty money.
Officers of the Hong Kong Customs Financial Investigation Department investigated the gang after receiving a report earlier this year. After gathering enough evidence, they raided three apartments and an office in Kwun Tong to arrest all four members.
The bank accounts of six family-owned companies holding HK$2.2 million in assets linked to the case have been frozen. Four members are being held on money laundering charges, facing a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison and a fine of HK$5 million ($641 million).
Authorities say they are continuing to search for the owners of the bank accounts and the illicit funds involved.
However, this is not the first money laundering case to use crypto as a front. Most criminal and fraudulent activities are increasingly using blockchain to hide the source of funds.
Three months ago, Chinese police also successfully dismantled an underground banking ring that used the stablecoin USDT to exchange foreign currencies worth up to 13.8 billion yuan ($1.9 billion). The bust comes just days after a similar incident in Jilin Province involving a $295 million cryptocurrency exchange ring.
In May 2024, the UK sentenced a Chinese woman to seven years in prison for aiding in money laundering in a $6.37 billion cryptocurrency scam.
Most recently, the US Department of Justice charged Bill Guan, the chief financial officer of New York-based media publication Epoch Times, with participating in a $67 million cryptocurrency money laundering ring.
