A case of money laundering using virtual currency has been cracked in Xiangyang, Hubei, with over 1.5 million yuan recovered.

According to reports from Jimu News, recently, the Baokang County Procuratorate in Xiangyang City, Hubei Province, filed a public prosecution. The local court sentenced defendants Jiang, Yang, Liu A, Qiao, and Liu B to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from two years and six months to three years for the crime of concealing and disguising criminal proceeds, and imposed fines ranging from 5,000 yuan to 18,000 yuan. Starting from April 2024, Yang, Jiang, Liu A, and others communicated through overseas chat software groups, knowingly using upstream funds that might be illegal proceeds from telecom fraud, and helped transfer illegal funds using virtual currency Tether. Investigation revealed that this group helped transfer fraud-related funds totaling 2.09 million yuan, with illegal profits ranging from 10,000 yuan to 90,000 yuan. During the case handling process, the prosecuting attorney encouraged the suspects to voluntarily return illegal gains through legal explanations, and through various measures, they recovered over 1.5 million yuan in illicit funds, which will be proportionally returned to 17 victims of telecom network fraud after the judgment takes effect.