Prosecutors on Friday indicted 32 people on fraud and money laundering charges related to the cryptocurrency trading platform ACE Exchange, recommending sentences of at least 20 years in prison for the four primary suspects.
Among those indicted by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office were ACE Exchange founder David Pan (潘奕彰), his business partner, Lin Keng-hong (林耿宏), and prominent attorney Wang Chen-huan (王晨桓), who served as chairman of the exchange.
Prosecutors estimate that more than 1,200 people were defrauded of an estimated total of NT$800 million (US$24.56 million).
Photo: Hsu Kuo-chen, Taipei Times
Starting in 2019, the suspects encouraged investors to purchase NFTC tokens, bitnature coins, mochange — a token introduced by ACE Exchange — and other tokens, writing white papers and other materials to bolster their legitimacy, prosecutors said.
In their promotional talks, Pan and Lin talked of building ACE Exchange into Asia’s most complete blockchain ecosystem for cryptocurrency trading, but many investors saw the value of their tokens go into a tailspin.
The investors said they could not convert them back to New Taiwan dollars as promised and filed complaints to seek a judicial investigation.
While advertising through various media for the tokens, the suspects manipulated the prices on their exchanges to attract investors, prosecutors said.
The suspects sold tokens and other blockchain products at total proceeds of at least NT$2.2 billion, then instructed others to hide cash in different locations, in one case purchasing real estate in Yilan County, prosecutors said.
About NT$43 million was transferred to Wang, who reinjected NT$26 million back into the exchange to bolster prices, they added.
Prosecutors recommended prison sentences of at least 20 years for four of the primary suspects, including Pan and Lin, based on the scale of the losses.
They also recommended at least 12 years for Wang, considering his status as a director of a well-known law firm and alleged key role in assisting the scheme.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS