Chinese Police Arrest 63 People Accused of Laundering $1.7B Using Cryptocurrency
The illicit funds were converted into tether and then laundered by people around the world.
Dec 12, 2022 at 4:54 p.m. UTC:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/CAMKGGVTWRGS7C7PC25KVRBVYQ.jpg)
China's flag (Shutterstock)
Chinese police have arrested 63 people in a massive case that laundered 12 billion yuan (US$1.7 billion) for both domestic and foreign criminal groups using cryptocurrency, according to a statement released over the weekend.
The criminal group began its operations in May 2021, with the sources of the funds coming from illegal pyramid schemes, fraud and gambling. The group then converted the funds into the stablecoin tether (USDT) and then recruited people from around the world to open crypto accounts and help launder the funds, according to Chinese authorities.
A total of about 130 million yuan ($18.6 million) in illegal income was confiscated.
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