Chinese Bank Executives Accused of Laundering $250 Million via Cryptocurrency

The private Chinese institution, Bank of Huludao, has uncovered a scheme involving the theft and laundering of 1.8 billion CNY (~$250 million) belonging to investors, implicating two of its senior executives. This was reported by The National Business Daily, citing court documents. 

According to the case materials, in August 2020, the bank’s former party secretary, Li Yulin, and former acting president, Li Xiaodong, along with an accomplice named Chen, allegedly embezzled 2.6 billion CNY through “settling default issues.”

The following month, the suspects illegally converted over 1.8 billion CNY into foreign currency and transferred these funds to Hong Kong company bank accounts under their control. 

During September and October, the same group purportedly engaged in purchasing cryptocurrencies via the WeChat messenger, subsequently reselling 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 for these transactions belonged to citizen Chen, who was arrested in August 2022. During the court hearing, the accused confessed to the crime. 

Documents state that Chen earned approximately 100,000 CNY (~$13,700) from these machinations. He later renounced the illicit income. 

The court sentenced him to two years and three months in prison, along with a fine of 2 million CNY. The case against the Bank of Huludao executives is being considered in a separate trial, and a verdict has yet to be reached. 

Previously, Chinese law enforcement uncovered a money laundering scheme involving the digital yuan. A group of four individuals found merchants accepting CBDC and arranged to exchange a certain amount of digital currency for cash. Merchants received a commission of 1-1.5%.

Earlier in June, a 24-year-old student from China contested a prison sentence for an alleged rug pull. According to the investigation, he issued a token on the BNB Chain blockchain and later withdrew liquidity amounting to 50,000 USDT.