Taoyuan prosecutors yesterday indicted the main figure and four other operators of an alleged Ponzi scheme through Jung Teng Co that netted NT$4.88 billion (US$159.39 million) in illegal profits over the past six years.
Chen Wei-jung (陳為榮), 55, allegedly lured people to his investment program with the promise of a rate of return 30 times their initial deposit and claimed that the company was legally registered and approved by the Fair Trade Commission.
After receiving complaints, prosecutors launched an investigation, which found that Chen was operating a Ponzi scheme, with early investors asked to recruit more people.
Chen and the four others — his wife, Chen Yu-chi (陳宥麒); Jung Teng general manager Wu Cheng-sheng (巫政陞); and two employees, both surnamed Huang (黃) — were indicted for contravening provisions of the Multi-Level Marketing Supervision Act (多層次傳銷管理法), the Banking Act (銀行法) and the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法).
Chen Wei-jung, a former insurance salesman, allegedly set up an online shopping platform that required its members to make an initial purchase of NT$4,200 in household goods and consumer items. Members then received a “gift ball” for subsequent NT$4,200 monthly purchases.
Chen Wei-jung promised members that they would move up a level by accumulating the “gift balls,” that they would receive yearly bonuses and that they could collect NT$3.5 million after seven years, prosecutors said.
He later launched another program for members to purchase shares in the company at reduced prices, which lured more people to the scheme and helped sustain payouts, they added.
Prosecutors and judicial investigation units in April raided the company and Chen Wei-jung’s residences, where they found NT$1.238 billion in cash and a database containing the names of 20,000 members, 98 bank accounts and 23 properties mostly registered to the Chens.
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