Judicial authorities have summoned 17 people for questioning in an ongoing investigation into an investment scam involving Argyll Technologies Group (雅格瑞科技集團), a sports arbitrage betting company whose Taiwanese operators are alleged to have made about NT$1.5 billion (US$49.03 million) in illegal profits over the past year.
Several police officers were allegedly involved in the scam, luring in colleagues, friends and family members with the promise of profits as high as 180 percent on annual returns, Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau officials said yesterday.
The suspects have been charged with breaching the Banking Act (銀行法) and the Multi-Level Marketing Supervision Act (多層次傳銷管理法), and some have been charged with money laundering, the officials said.
The New Taipei District Court yesterday approved the detention of six suspects: Chen Chih-piao (陳志標), the reported proprietor of Argyll Technologies in Taiwan; Argyll regional sales director Hung Ming-chiu (洪明秋); Argyll regional manager Chou Wan-jung (周宛瑢); Argyll employee Lin Yu-tong (林宥彤); Taoyuan police officer Huang Wen-huang (黃文煌); and a Tibetan man identified as Tenzing Charlie, who allegedly worked as an underground currency exchange operator in Taiwan.
With bureau and other judiciary units, New Taipei prosecutors on Friday raided 24 locations, including the Argyll offices, seizing evidence and property that included NT$87.94 million in cash and NT$41.25 million in cryptocurrencies, as well as luxury cars and expensive watches.
Last year, Chen started to promote investment schemes through Argyll, which is registered in the British Virgin Islands, and claimed to place bets with various sports gaming agencies that yielded 100 percent winnings, the investigation bureau said.
Offering buy-ins of NT$33,000 to NT$1.65 million with annual returns as high as 180 percent to investors, Chen and his staff allegedly attracted more than 1,000 people to invest in what bureau officials said amounts to a multi-level Ponzi scheme.
During the FIFA World Cup, they offered a special package to investors, allowing them to bet on game results using Argyll’s in-house data analytics technology and promising a 40 percent return, as well as another “leveraged loan” scheme that offered a return five times the original investment amount, the investigation showed.
The schemes began to unravel when Chen had cash flow problems and could not pay out the promised returns, the bureau said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is
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