PANews reported on July 20 that the People’s Court of Pudong New District, Shanghai, announced on July 16 a virtual currency illegal exchange case that was adjudicated in March this year. The case shows that Yang, Xu, and others operated accounts of domestic shell companies to provide stablecoins (with Tether as the trading medium) to unspecified clients’ overseas accounts, thus achieving cross-border fund transfers for profit. Over the past three years, the total amount involved in illegal foreign exchange transactions reached 6.5 billion yuan. Among them, Yang was responsible for attracting clients and allocating foreign exchange funds overseas, while Xu managed the public accounts of 17 shell companies domestically, handling an average daily fund flow exceeding 10 million yuan, with clear division of labor and close cooperation.
The disclosed case content shows that at the end of 2023, Ms. Chen, a resident of Shanghai, needed to remit money to her daughter overseas. Due to the limitation of our country’s foreign exchange quota of $50,000 per person per year, she contacted an overseas 'currency exchange company' (the domestic shell company A controlled by Yang and others). Following instructions, Ms. Chen transferred RMB to company A’s account, and subsequently, her daughter’s overseas account received the equivalent foreign exchange, while the 'currency exchange company' charged a certain percentage as a fee for their service. For a long time, this criminal group has provided illegal foreign exchange services for clients with foreign currency and RMB exchange needs through cross-border 'matched transactions' under the guise of 'agency collection and payment'.