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.
The first global hotel Keys Selection by the Michelin Guide includes four hotels in Taiwan, Michelin announced yesterday. All four received the “Michelin One Key,” indicating guests are to experience a “very special stay” at any of the locations as the establishments are “a true gem with personality. Service always goes the extra mile, and the hotel provides much more than others in its price range.” Of the four hotels, three are located in Taipei and one in Taichung. In Taipei, the One Key accolades were awarded to the Capella Taipei, Kimpton Da An Taipei and Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Capella Taipei was described by
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) yesterday said that private-sector refiners are willing to stop buying Russian naphtha should the EU ask them to, after a group of non-governmental organizations, including the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), criticized the nation’s continued business with the country. While Taiwan joined the US and its Western allies in putting broad sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine in 2022, it did not explicitly ban imports of naphtha, a major hard-currency earner for Russia. While state-owned firms stopped importing Russian oil in 2023, there is no restriction on private companies to
INDUSTRY: Beijing’s latest export measures go beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related tech, an academic said Taiwanese industries could face significant disruption from China’s newly tightened export controls on rare earth elements, as much of Taiwan’s supply indirectly depends on Chinese materials processed in Japan, a local expert said yesterday. Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈), director of the Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, said that China’s latest export measures go far beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related technologies. With Japan and Southeast Asian countries among those expected to be hit, Taiwan could feel the impact through its reliance on Japanese-made semi-finished products and
RSS