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.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
RSS