A couple yesterday were convicted and handed prison terms for masterminding a carbon credit trading scam that netted more than NT$100 million (US$3.31 million) in profits over two years.
The Hsinchu District Court yesterday ruled that Hsu Chu-tsai (徐鉅裁), 67, and his wife, Yang Liang-liang (楊亮亮), 60, who were the owners of Rich Alliance Good Health Co (富盟康泰事業公司), were guilty of financial fraud and illegally operating an investment business in contravention of the Banking Act (銀行法).
The judges sentenced Hsu to eight years in prison, while Yang received a four-year term, while also confiscating the more than NT$100 million of profits and imposing a NT$25 million fine on the company.
An investigation found that the couple registered Rich Alliance Good Health Co in 2016 in Hsinchu City, initially to market equipment to generate renewable energy and control pollution.
The couple in 2019 started to promote “carbon credit trading” and claimed to be authorized by international bodies that deal in “carbon emissions trading schemes,” enticing people to invest with promises of lucrative returns.
“Although Hsu and Yang knew their company was not dealing in ‘carbon credit trading,’ they set up a trading platform to lure investors by promoting the company as engaging in legitimate international schemes for carbon neutralization and the sale of carbon credits, taking advantage of the worldwide trend for renewable energy sources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” said a filing by Hsinchu prosecutors who conducted the investigation.
Hsu gained the trust of potential investors by claiming that he had studied at Germany’s prestigious Ifo Institute for Economic Research and that he was formerly head of foreign exchange trading at a leading bank in Singapore who was authorized to trade on what he called the “London Carbon Credit Exchange.”
In the indictment, prosecutors said an investigation showed that was fraud, as most of Hsu’s claims were backed up with forged papers about his past and current business ties in Germany and Singapore, and that no such London carbon credit exchange existed, as before Brexit in 2019, the UK participated in the EU Emissions Trading System.
The couple lured 78 investors in Taiwan, China, the US and other nations, with carbon credits sold for US$3,000 per 300 tonnes, for which the investor received a “carbon credit voucher,” prosecutors said.
The vouchers and the values were said to be guaranteed by the couple’s “carbon credit certification center,” which promised monthly profits of up to 4 percent and annual profits of between 18 and 48 percent, they said.
The couple were active in the Kiwanis Club, and had started a local chapter, through which they promoted the “carbon credit” scheme with fellow businesspeople, prosecutors said.
At first investors received some returns, but began to suffer shortfalls in the second year, they said.
Investors received statements from Hsu in June 2020 that claimed that the director of the “London Carbon Credit Exchange” had died of COVID-19 and that payments had been delayed due to the suspension of carbon credit trading in London, which led to some investors suspecting fraud and asking authorities to investigate, they added.
“The couple lured people to invest by false promises of high rates of return from the carbon credit trading scheme. Many investors lost their savings and incurred huge financial losses. It also resulted in damage to Taiwan’s financial system and its regulation,” the judges said in their ruling.
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