The Tongliang Court in China has issued sentences to 21 individuals in a $300 million USDT money laundering operation. They conducted their operations between November 2020 to late April 2021. The primary figures who orchestrated this ring were Jiang Moumou and Zheng Moumou.
The verdict
The court’s decision paints a clear picture of the depth of this ring’s activities. Jiang Moumou received a six years and three months prison sentence. He was also charged a hefty fine of 500,000 RMB ($68,000) for his role in hiding laundered funds. Zheng Moumou, was not spared either; he received a six-year prison term and a similar fine.
How did they operate?
Both recruited 19 additional members and assigned each with specific roles and responsibilities in the money laundering ring. The group’s evaded detection by bypassing online trading platforms and executing transactions at prices different from market rates.
Their strategy revolved around converting their money from various online crimes USDT. These converted funds were then funneled through offline Bitpie collection wallets before being sold on ltrading platforms.
The group fabricated reasons like withdrawing project funds and migrant workers’ wages to legitimize their operations. It facilitated cash withdrawals across multiple provinces and cities in China.
Regulators were shocked at the audacity of these criminals and their operation, laundering over $300 millio. Each cash transfer amounted to tens of millions of yuan. To profits from this money laundering scheme exceeded a 22.62 million yuan.
This verdict serves to be an important milestone in China’s crackdown on crypto-related crimes. It sends a very clear message that money laundering will not be tolerated, especially assisted by crypto entities.
The intricate details of this particular case reveal the lengths to which criminal networks would go to exploit the crypto sector for their nefarious activities. It is a huge case of international relevance and concern.