{"id":299606,"date":"2021-07-15T10:37:27","date_gmt":"2021-07-15T07:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/hong-kong-customs-arrest-four-in-first-crypto-laundering-bust\/"},"modified":"2021-07-15T10:37:27","modified_gmt":"2021-07-15T07:37:27","slug":"hong-kong-customs-arrest-four-in-first-crypto-laundering-bust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/hong-kong-customs-arrest-four-in-first-crypto-laundering-bust\/","title":{"rendered":"#Hong Kong customs arrest four in first crypto laundering bust"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Hong Kong customs arrest four in first crypto laundering bust<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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\"Hong
\n Hong Kong customs police said they had conducted their first successful operation to dismantle a money laundering syndicate that used cryptocurrency.
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Hong Kong customs officials said Thursday they had dismantled a money laundering syndicate that used cryptocurrency to process some HK$1.2 billion ($155 million) in illegal funds, in what they said was the first successful operation of its kind.<\/p>\n

“It is the first time in Hong Kong that a money-laundering ring involved in using cryptocurrency to wash dirty cash and conceal the source of criminal assets was broken up,” Senior Superintendent Mark Woo Wai-kwan told reporters.<\/p>\n

Investigators said four men\u2014including the alleged local mastermind of the syndicate\u2014had been arrested and bailed while some HK$20 million had been frozen.<\/p>\n

The men opened various local bank accounts with shell companies and made transactions through a virtual currency exchange trading platform to turn laundered crypto into real cash for clients.<\/p>\n

Around 60 per cent of the funds had been channelled through bank accounts in Singapore over the last 15 months.<\/p>\n

The group were trading in privacy coins issued by the cryptocurrency Tether, officials said.<\/p>\n

Cryptocurrencies are a boon to criminal networks and launderers because they are even harder to trace than conventional cash transactions.<\/p>\n

But law enforcement agencies are making some headway. <\/p>\n

On Tuesday, British police announced they had seized a record \u00a3180 million ($250 million) in cryptocurrency that was suspected of having been used in criminal enterprises.<\/p>\n

Last month, China said it had arrested more than a thousand people for using the profits from crime to buy cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n

Beijing has turned a sharp eye on cryptocurrency in recent months as it widens its regulatory crackdown on the tech sector.<\/p>\n

Cryptocurrency trading is banned in China, and authorities have recently closed mines and warned banks to halt related transactions.<\/p>\n

Before the closures, Chinese bitcoin mines powered nearly 80 percent of the global trade in cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n

As a business-friendly global financial hub, Hong Kong has long been something of a laundering hotspot.<\/p>\n

Authorities say they take the issue seriously and do their best to prosecute criminal enterprises. <\/p>\n

The city recently tightened oversight on cryptocurrency trading, requiring all platforms to register with a local watchdog and be subject to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing rules.<\/p>\n

But transparency campaigners have long complained that lax regulations make Hong Kong an easy place to launder money and set up shell companies.<\/p>\n

In January, seven former and current bank employees were arrested as part of an operation against a US$810 million international money-laundering syndicate, in what authorities said was their biggest bust in years.\n <\/p>\n\n

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China deepens crypto crackdown with central bank warning\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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\n \u00a9 2021 AFP<\/p>\n

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Citation<\/strong>:
\n Hong Kong customs arrest four in first crypto laundering bust (2021, July 15)
\n retrieved 15 July 2021
\n from https:\/\/techxplore.com\/news<\/a>\/2021-07-hong-kong-customs-crypto-laundering.html<\/p>\n

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