Prosecutors in Taipei yesterday indicted 35 people, including the operator of a Hong Kong-style diner in Taipei, for allegedly laundering more than NT$30.6 billion (US$970.3 million) in illegal online gambling proceeds through payment processing platforms they controlled.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said a man surnamed Lo (羅), 41, who runs Ming Shiang Yuan Cafe (茗香園冰室), was charged with money laundering, organized criminal activity and illegal online gambling.
Prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of nine and a half years for Lo.
Photo: Wu Sheng-ju, Taipei Times
Lo launched the alleged scheme in August 2020 after purchasing the source code for a payment system and building apps named HeroPay and MatchPay, prosecutors said.
Lo allegedly partnered with illegal online gambling Web sites operating in China, Japan and India, routing player deposits through the two platforms rather than directly to the gambling operators.
Lo recruited a woman surnamed Huang (黃) to handle finance and administrative work and rented office space under the name of his restaurant, prosecutors said.
In June 2022, the group launched its own online gambling Web site, Rich 11, offering baccarat, slot machines and sports betting, with HeroPay used to collect deposits.
Authorities estimate that the group laundered NT$30.695 billion through its gambling operations and payment services.
The proceeds were used as profits for Lo, operating funds for the payment platforms and capital for other businesses, including another restaurant, Dongyin Quick Knifeman (東引快刀手), prosecutors said.
Prosecutors indicted Lo, Huang and 33 others under the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪防制條例), the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) and Criminal Code provisions related to online gambling.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS