Taiwanese Prosecutors Seek 20-Year Sentence for ACE Exchange Founder

The Taipei District Prosecutors Office has requested 20-year prison sentences for four key suspects in a fraud and money laundering case linked to the cryptocurrency exchange ACE Exchange, reports Taipei Times.

Among the accused are the platform’s founder, David Pan, his business partner Lin Keng-hong, and lawyer Wang Chen-huan, who served as the exchange’s chairman. In total, 32 individuals face charges of fraud and money laundering.

According to the investigation, the suspects allegedly defrauded over 1,200 people of 800 million New Taiwan dollars (approximately $24.56 million). A previous damage estimate was $10.7 million.

Prosecutors noted that the scale of the losses justifies the sentencing recommendations.

The agency stated that the trading platform managed the Alfred Wallet app and A+Card through offshore accounts. Through these, users deposited cryptocurrencies, which the exchange’s team allegedly misappropriated and laundered, according to the prosecutors.

ACE Exchange representatives denied all allegations of illegal operations. They claimed that Pan is not an active employee of the company and that the mentioned services were created by him with an external group of developers.

Founded in 2018, ACE Exchange is one of Taiwan’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. Pan ceased involvement with the platform in 2022.

In January 2024, Taiwanese police arrested David Pan and 14 associates on suspicion of promoting worthless digital assets. The damage exceeded $32.3 million.