Update, Aug. 22, 12:54 pm UTC: This article has been updated to include CoinW exchange’s response to the indictment.
Taiwanese prosecutors reportedly indicted 14 people in what they say is the country’s biggest-ever cryptocurrency money laundering case, involving more than 1,500 victims and over $70 million in illicit funds.
The Shilin District Prosecutor’s office indicted the 14 on charges related to fraud, money laundering and organized crime, requesting the confiscation of 1.275 billion New Taiwan dollars ($39.8 million), which was allegedly obtained from victims through fraud, according to a Friday report from local media outlet UDN.
Prosecutors also requested confiscation of another 640,000 USDt (USDT), undisclosed Bitcoin (BTC) and Tron (TRX) holdings, over $1.8 million in cash and two luxury cars. They reportedly seized bank deposits totaling $3.13 million, with the rest of the proceeds set to be recovered later.
The group was charged with laundering $71.9 million collected from unknowing victims in cash, before being converted into foreign currency and transferred overseas to purchase USDT through Taiwanese cryptocurrency exchange BiXiang Technology.
The prosecution released the following money laundering flow chart along with the indictment to illustrate the group’s activities.
Authorities launched the investigation into the case in April when the 14 individuals were arrested, including ringleader Shi Qiren, who may get a 25-year prison sentence as the main suspect behind the scam and for his refusal to plead guilty, UDN reported.
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Over 1,500 victims defrauded through a non-licensed crypto exchange
Prosecutors alleged that since 2024, Qiren, his wife and a manager surnamed Yang collaborated to open 40 stores across Taiwan under the brand “CoinW” and “CoinThink Technology Co., Ltd.,” and collected millions in franchise fees before using a partner firm to set up deposit machines to collect cash from victims.
They allegedly posed as the only firm authorized by Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission, defrauding 1,539 people out of $71.9 million through franchise fees and cash collection machines.
The group also fell victim to a side fraud, according to prosecutors, when another suspect surnamed Gu allegedly tricked Shi into paying $93,000 for false promises of securing Anti-Money Laundering registration.
CoinW denied having ties with the money laundering case, adding that “the company’s management has never been involved in any illegal money laundering or fraudulent activities.”
For any accounts or transactions involved in fraud or money laundering, the platform will seek to dispose of them in accordance with the law, said the cryptocurrency exchange in a Friday release.
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The indictment came days after a crypto influencer was sentenced to a year in prison for money laundering and wire fraud charges after he defrauded two major cloud computing providers in a large-scale cryptojacking operation.
A month earlier, a Russian citizen allegedly laundered $530 million through US banks and crypto exchanges using USDT to facilitate payments for Russian clients tied to sanctioned banks, Cointelegraph reported on July 17.
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