93 Arrested in China for Laundering Cryptocurrency
Police in Hunan arrested 93 people for allegedly using cryptocurrency to launder billions of dollars.
According to a post on the Hengyang county police department’s WeChat account, police shut down the entire money laundering crime syndicate. The group, which Hong Moumou led, allegedly laundered 40 billion yuan (~$5.5 billion) and committed wire fraud in at least 300 cases.
The press release, translated by DeepL:
“On September 23, 2022, Hengyang County Public Security Bureau held a press conference on the “100 Days Action” of summer security crackdown. At the conference, nine typical cases, including the “9.15” mega-money laundering crime syndicate case, were publicly announced for the first time during the “100-day action”. Among them, the “9.15” mega money laundering crime group is suspected of using virtual currency transactions to launder up to 40 billion yuan, and more than 300 cases involving wire fraud have been colluded so far.
“Under the high attention and direct command of Liu Xiaolong, deputy governor of Hengyang County People’s Government and secretary of the Party Committee of Hengyang County Public Security Bureau, Hengyang County Public Security Bureau “2021.9.15” task force started with Liu being defrauded of 7.8 million, in-depth research, meticulous investigation, December 2021, July 2022 in Hainan, Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi and other places respectively. Fujian, Jiangxi and other places repeatedly to close the net operation, the whole chain dismantled the money laundering criminal group led by Hong Moumou, arrested 93 suspects, dismantled money laundering, running points nest more than 10, seized more than 100 cell phones and computers involved in the case, seized and frozen 300 million yuan of funds involved in the case, to recover economic losses for the victim 7.8 million yuan.”
“After investigation, since 2018, the criminal gang led by suspect Hong Moumou has been contacting collection and payment points in many domestic cities, converting fraud-related gambling and other criminal funds into virtual coins and then realizing them into dollars for laundering, and finally using a number of domestic companies to deliver the funds to other gold owners quickly and safely by means of illegal remittance, from which illegal profits are seized. The criminal group used virtual currency trading to launder up to 40 billion yuan.”
“At present, the suspects Hong Moumou and 93 others have been taken criminal compulsory measures according to law, and the case is being further processed.”
百日行动 | 涉案金额高达400亿元！衡阳县公安破获特大洗钱犯罪集团案，抓获犯罪嫌疑人93人！ | mp.weixin.qq.com, archive.org
