Prosecutors should look into the SET Group’s possible links with ACE Exchange, a cryptocurrency trading platform whose founders have been indicted for fraud, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) said on Thursday.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office in late April indicted 32 people on fraud and money laundering charges related to ACE Exchange, seeking sentences of at least 20 years for the four primary suspects, including ACE Exchange founder David Pan (潘奕彰) and his business partner Lin Keng-hong (林耿宏).
Prosecutors said that more than 1,200 people were defrauded of an estimated total of NT$800 million (US$24.63 million).
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Wang said that Yi Chuan Holdings Co manager Hsieh Shih-ying (謝詩瑩) is under investigation for allegedly helping the group launder money, adding that Hsieh had close ties with the SET Group and Yi Chuan was founded with a joint investment from SET Group subsidiary Create Intelligence Inc.
Former deputy general manager of the SET’s media department, Lin Hui-chen (林慧珍), served as Yi Chuan’s supervisor, Wang said.
Yi Chuang was located on the third floor of the SET Group headquarters, and within a month of Yi Chuan’s founding, the SET Metro channel had aired Biboverse (Bibo願望合夥人), a program which was exclusively funded by ACE Exchange, she said.
The SET Group must explain the nature of its relations with a company allegedly involved in the fraud, she said, adding that the prosecutors should look into whether the funding for the program came from illegal sources.
Wang also called on the National Communications Commission to launch an investigation.
In response, Lin, who is also a manager at Create Intelligence Inc, said the company had terminated its collaboration with Yi Chuan when Hsieh was detained for alleged involvement in the ACE Exchange fraud investigations.
Create Intelligence has not invested in any cryptocurrency projects and has never collaborated with a company engaged in fraud, she said, adding that prosecutors should investigate the issue.
Lin said Biboverse was produced by a respected company, but SET canceled the program after the alleged illegal activities of the producer were revealed.
Separately, Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) on Thursday said that two veteran journalists, one surnamed Chiang (姜) and the other surnamed Lee (李), were also indicted for their alleged involvement in the case.
Huang said both had ties with the SET Group and they were indicted for allegedly encouraging people to invest in the Chaebol platform, which was selling non-fungible tokens (NFT).
Huang said that the group also established a company, Minsheng Technology and Media Co, as a content farm creating fake news promoting Chaebol.
On Wednesday, Huang said at the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee that the state-run Central News Agency (CNA) had run an article on March 28 last year promoting Chaebol and the NFTs it was selling.
Huang called for an investigation on why the CNA uploaded such an article and if it had been deceived.
In response, Minister of Culture Li Yuan (李遠) said his ministry would look into the issue.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
RSS