The private Chinese bank Bank of Huludao has uncovered a scheme to steal and launder 1.8 billion CNY (~$250 million) belonging to investors, which involved two of its top managers. This is reported by The National Business Daily with reference to court documents.
According to the case file, in August 2020, the former party secretary of the bank, Li Yulin, and ex-acting president Li Xiaodong, together with an accomplice named Chen, allegedly stole 2.6 billion CNY by "resolving problems with non-fulfillment of obligations."
The following month, the suspects illegally converted more than 1.8 billion CNY into foreign currency and transferred these funds to the bank accounts of companies in Hong Kong under their control.
During September and October, the same group of individuals allegedly engaged in buying cryptocurrencies through the WeChat messenger, and then resold them abroad using other merchants.
The accomplices converted the profits into US dollars and sent them to corporate accounts controlled by Bank of Huludao employees.
The bank cards used to make payments belonged to Citizen Chen. He was arrested in August 2022. During the court session, the accused confessed to the crime.
The documents say that Chen earned about 100,000 CNY (~$13,700) from these frauds. He subsequently renounced his criminal income.
The court sentenced him to two years and three months in prison, as well as a fine of 2 million CNY. The case of the Bank of Huludao executives is being considered in a separate process, so a verdict has not yet been rendered for them.
Earlier, Chinese law enforcement authorities uncovered a scheme to launder funds through the digital yuan. A group of four people found merchants accepting CBDC and negotiated with them to exchange a certain amount in digital currency for cash. Merchants received a commission of 1-1.5%.
Recall that in early June, a 24-year-old student from China challenged a prison sentence for an alleged rug pull. According to investigators, he issued a token on the BNB Chain blockchain and later withdrew liquidity to 50,000 USDT.