{"id":84823,"date":"2023-09-21T13:18:26","date_gmt":"2023-09-21T10:18:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=84823"},"modified":"2025-09-12T19:41:31","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T16:41:31","slug":"singapore-authorities-freeze-1-8-billion-linked-to-cryptocurrency-money-laundering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/singapore-authorities-freeze-1-8-billion-linked-to-cryptocurrency-money-laundering\/","title":{"rendered":"Singapore authorities freeze $1.8 billion linked to cryptocurrency money laundering"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Singapore police confiscated 2.4 billion <span data-descr=\"Singapore dollar\" class=\"old_tooltip\">SGD<\/span> (~$1.8 billion) in the country\u2019s largest case of laundering proceeds derived from digital assets, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2023-09-20\/singapore-s-laundering-case-assets-seized-total-1-8-billion?leadSource=uverify%20wall#xj4y7vzkg\">Bloomberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, authorities sealed bank accounts worth more than 1.13 billion SGD (~$825 million) and crypto at $27 million. As part of the investigation, authorities also sealed more than 110 properties and 62 vehicles valued at about 1.24 billion SGD (~$906 million).<\/p>\n<p>In mid-August, the police <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/group-arrested-in-singapore-for-laundering-more-than-sgd-950-million-through-cryptocurrencies\">arrested<\/a> ten Chinese nationals on suspicion of involvement in money laundering and document forgery. According to the statement, they allegedly laundered proceeds from overseas criminal activity, including online fraud and gambling.<\/p>\n<p>They were denied bail, citing flight risk due to the presence of forged passports.<\/p>\n<p>Against this backdrop, Singapore banks <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2023-09-21\/singapore-banks-tighten-scrutiny-of-chinese-with-other-passports?leadSource=uverify%20wall#xj4y7vzkg\">tightened scrutiny<\/a> of Chinese clients. Some lenders are scrutinising new account openings and transactions.<\/p>\n<p>According to sources familiar with the matter, at least one international bank has already ceased serving several citizens from Cambodia, Cyprus, Turkey and Vanuatu. Other financial institutions in the city-state began evaluating whether to accept new funds from clients with similar characteristics on a case-by-case basis.<\/p>\n<p>The criminal scandal has sparked widespread public concern, as it touches at least ten local banks. This raises questions about the effectiveness of local anti-money-laundering efforts.<\/p>\n<p>A representative of the DBS Group noted that the local regulatory regime obliges all banks to monitor money-laundering risks but does not compel them to refuse services.<\/p>\n<p>In Parliament, more than 30 questions on the matter were raised: from the stringency of vetting processes to reports of suspicious transactions and the impact on the country\u2019s reputation. Home Affairs Minister Sun Xueling said the ministry would provide answers at a briefing in early October.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier in September in Thailand, <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/five-foreigners-arrested-in-thailand-over-a-27-million-cryptocurrency-scam\">arrested<\/a> the accused in a crypto scam worth $27 million. The victims of a platform called bchgloballtd.com numbered at least 3,280 people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Singapore police confiscated 2.4 billion SGD (~$1.8 billion) in the country\u2019s largest case of laundering proceeds tied to digital assets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":84824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1154,946],"class_list":["post-84823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-crimes","tag-singapore"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"25","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84823"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84825,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84823\/revisions\/84825"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}