Prosecutors indict 26 in cryptocurrency fraud
By Huang Chia-lin and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Kaohsiung prosecutors have indicted 26 people, including the owner of the self-acclaimed largest underground cryptocurrency dealer in southern Taiwan, for allegedly laundering NT$686 million (US$20.9 million) for fraud rings, the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday.
The dealer, Golden Bull Baihui (金牛百匯), has allegedly offered money laundering services to fraud rings and money mules since 2021, advertising itself as the largest over-the-counter venue in southern Taiwan, trading virtual assets without going through centralized exchanges (CeXs), prosecutors said.
Golden Bull also provided playbooks on how to answer questions to avoid detection, and used offshore exchanges to break the money trail, prosecutors said.
The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office is pictured in an undated photograph.
Photo: Huang Chia-ling, Taipei Times
The business was run by a 60-year-old woman surnamed Wang (汪) and her 31-year-old son, also surnamed Wang, prosecutors said.
Investigators alleged that the dealer priced virtual assets 6 to 10 percent above market price and split the profits among its members, prosecutors said.
It also allegedly promised fraud rings that it would move virtual assets into designated wallets.
Its internal Line chat groups were reportedly filled with comments mocking victims, saying that they deserved to be scammed, the office said.
The messages suggested that everyone at the business knew its customers were being defrauded, prosecutors said.
The group allegedly victimized 395 people across Taiwan and laundered more than NT$686 million, prosecutors said, adding that they estimated that illegal proceeds of up to NT$232 million should be forfeited.
The office charged the 26 defendants with violating the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪防制條例), the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) and the Business Accounting Act (商業會計法), as well as Article 339-4, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 2 of the Criminal Code.
Prosecutors alleged that the group seriously undermined financial order and asked the court to hand down heavier sentences to the ringleaders.
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