Prosecutors yesterday indicted 62 people and 13 companies on money laundering charges involving more than NT$10.7 billion (US$337.59 million) in illicit funds through Taiwan.
The funds were linked to the Cambodia-based Prince Holding Group, which the US alleges is a front for a multibillion-US-dollar online fraud and money-laundering operation.
Prince Holding Group founder, Chinese-born Cambodian Chen Zhi (陳志), is facing up to 13 years in prison, as prosecutors seek a maximum sentence.
Photo: CNA
He faces charges of money laundering, conspiracy, gambling, document forgery and contraventions of the Business Entity Accounting Act (商業會計法).
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday completed its investigation that began on Oct. 15 last year, which entailed eight search operations and resulted in the detention of nine people.
A report by the Cambodian Ministry of the Interior in January said that it had revoked Chen’s Cambodian citizenship the previous month and extradited him to China.
Although Chen’s whereabouts are unknown, the office said it moved to prosecute him regardless.
Chen allegedly ran forced labor scam compounds in Cambodia and an illegal gambling network.
Starting in 2016, he worked with a number of companies in Taiwan to establish a money laundering network, prosecutors said.
He set up a total of 250 companies across 18 countries and held 453 international bank accounts, they added.
US federal prosecutors indicted Chen and his associates on Oct. 8, while the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Oct. 14 named Prince Holding’s nine shell companies and three Taiwanese nationals as Specially Designated Nationals.
If convicted in the US, Chen faces a 40-year prison sentence. US authorities have also seized about 127,000 bitcoin valued at more than US$11 billion.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese prosecutors said they have seized more than NT$5.5 billion in assets, including NT$55 million worth of designer goods and cash, NT$447 million from 337 bank accounts and 24 real-estate properties worth NT$3.98 billion.
The district prosecutors’ office also seized 35 luxury cars worth NT$1.1 billion, 24 of which have since been auctioned for a total of NT$436.62 million.
Prosecutors said they are seeking a 20-year prison sentence and a fine of NT$250 million fine for Chen’s alleged accomplice, Li Tian (李添), while for two Singaporean nationals, it is seeking sentences of 18 years with a NT$150 million fine and 12 years with an NT$100 million fine respectively.
Prosecutors are requesting prison terms of between six and 16 years for the other defendants.
“To conceal and disguise criminal proceeds, they exploited Taiwanese to carry out money-laundering activities in Taiwan through online gambling and ?underground remittances,” the office said.
“This not only seriously disrupted ?Taiwan’s financial order and social stability, but also damaged Taiwan’s international image,” it added.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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