According to BlockBeats, on August 21, the Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court recently heard a case involving the crime of concealing and hiding criminal proceeds through virtual currency transactions. The defendant was aware that the funds were criminally obtained but still assisted in the transfer, resulting in a sentence of 3 years and 6 months. In August 2024, Liu knowingly sold USDT (commonly known as U coin) to He, who held cash that was criminally obtained, and received 200,000 yuan in cash, with the whereabouts of the involved funds currently untraceable. It was found that the 200,000 yuan transferred by Liu was money defrauded from others.
The effective court ruling asserted that Liu, knowing the funds were criminal proceeds, still assisted in the transfer, and his actions constituted the crime of concealing and hiding criminal proceeds. The court sentenced Liu to 3 years and 6 months in prison for the crime of concealing and hiding criminal proceeds, imposed a fine of 40,000 yuan, and ordered the confiscation of his illegal gains.
The judge stated that defendants in cases of concealing and hiding criminal proceeds exhibit typical profit-seeking behavior and harbor a sense of luck. Many defendants cannot resist the temptation of short-term high returns and commit crimes. Although the efforts to promote legal knowledge regarding telecom network fraud are continuously increasing, most defendants have some awareness that the property involved may be obtained through fraud, yet some still fantasize that their concealment and hiding actions are difficult to detect, or that even if discovered, the consequences would not be too severe, thus testing the law themselves.
The judge reminds to be wary of any requests for 'abnormal transactions' that claim to be related to virtual currency, and not to engage in buying, selling, or transferring sources of unknown virtual currency or funds just for the sake of so-called 'transaction fees' or 'price differences', or by taking others' promises lightly. Knowing that the funds are obtained from others' crimes but still assisting in conversion, transfer, cashing out, etc., may violate criminal law, constituting the crime of concealing and hiding criminal proceeds, facing severe criminal penalties. (Workers' Daily)