Mainland man jailed 40 months over Hong Kong mule accounts
On.cc · 2 SOURCESabout 3 hours ago2 MIN
Summary
A 38-year-old mainland Chinese man has been sentenced to 40 months in prison at Tsuen Wan Magistrates' Courts after being convicted on four counts of money laundering, in a case involving mule accounts opened in Hong Kong for a cross-border criminal syndicate. The court accepted the prosecution's application to increase the sentence by about 25% to strengthen deterrence. Police said the syndicate used 43 Hong Kong bank accounts between June and September 2023 to receive fraud proceeds from 34 separate scam cases involving about HK$18 million. Investigators also said fund-flow analysis suggested the group laundered as much as HK$230 million in suspected criminal proceeds through local bank accounts and cryptocurrency transactions.
Key Points
- Police said the defendant came to Hong Kong and opened multiple mule accounts at a local digital bank for receiving suspected crime proceeds.
- Investigators alleged he later transferred money to bank accounts in his own name, withdrew cash, and bought cryptocurrency at virtual-asset exchange shops.
- The man was accused of laundering about HK$6 million in suspected criminal proceeds during August and September 2023.
- In September 2023, police arrested 13 men and women after an in-depth investigation uncovered the cross-border money-laundering syndicate.
- Separately, Shanghai police recently cracked a major underground banking case involving virtual currency, arresting 19 suspects over nearly RMB20 billion.
Why It Matters
The case shows how Hong Kong bank accounts, digital banking services and virtual-asset channels can be combined to obscure the source and destination of suspected criminal funds. It also comes as mainland authorities are pursuing similar cross-border illicit exchange networks that use cryptocurrency as a settlement tool, underlining the regional nature of the threat.