SINGAPORE – Four foreign nationals were charged in court on Thursday with engaging in a conspiracy to cheat involving a cryptocurrency mining investment scheme, as well as for carrying on a business of providing payment services without a license.
The accused are linked to local firm A&A Blockchain Technology Innovation, which was investigated in 2022 for possible cheating offences.
At the time of their offences, Dutch national Yang Bin, 60, served as the chairman of A&A Blockchain. Lu Huangbin, 59, was chief executive officer, Wang Xinghong, 40, was chief technology officer, and Chen Wei, 42, was a director at the company. Lu, Wang and Chen are all Chinese nationals.
Each of the four face 12 counts of engaging in a conspiracy to cheat involving a total sum of over $1.8 million, and a single count of consenting to A&A Blockchain carrying on a business of providing payment services without a license.
Between May 2021 and February 2022, A&A Blockchain offered a cryptocurrency mining investment scheme, promising investors a fixed daily return of 0.5 per cent. The accused allegedly conspired to induce 12 individuals to invest with A&A Blockchain by falsely claiming that the company owned a large number of machines to mine cryptocurrency.
From August 2021 to February 2022, A&A Blockchain operated a cryptocurrency exchange known as AAEX, which offered the trading of several cryptocurrencies. The company did not possess a license issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to provide payment services in the country.
Under the Penal Code, any person convicted of a cheating offence could face a fine, a jail term of up to 10 years, or both.
Of the 12 cheating charges, 10 are amalgamated charges – if convicted of such an amalgamated charge, the accused could be liable to double the punishment for one incident of the offence.
Additionally, any person found guilty of providing payment services without a license could face a jail term of up to three years, a fine of up to $125,000, or both.
The cases for Chen, Wang, and Yang have been adjourned to Sept 7. Lu’s pre-trial conference will be held on Sept 14.
On Tuesday, the police conducted a massive islandwide blitz, in one of the biggest anti-money laundering operations in Singapore.
A group of foreigners who had amassed about $1 billion worth of assets here were rounded up during the operation. The group lived in good class bungalows and high-end condominiums, and owned luxury cars.
Ten people aged 31 to 44, suspected to be involved in offences of forgery, money laundering and resisting arrest, were arrested and charged on Wednesday night.
The assets, which included properties, luxury cars and goods, were either seized, frozen or issued with prohibition of disposal orders.
