The Supreme Court and the Supreme Procuratorate publish typical cases of 'implementing the concealment and hiding of criminal proceeds using means such as virtual currency'

Foresight News reports that the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate of China have published typical cases of legally punishing the concealment and hiding of criminal proceeds and the proceeds of crime, including the case 'An and others implementing the concealment and hiding of criminal proceeds using means such as virtual currency.' From September to October 2020, defendants An, Chen, and Guo conspired to profit by transferring funds for others through online platforms. An contacted criminals from a telecom fraud group (handled in another case) online and provided multiple bank card accounts of Guo as instructed by the other party to receive funds. After Guo provided the bank card accounts, he was responsible for registering and logging into the encrypted trading platform in his own name. Chen was responsible for operating the trading platform to use the funds transferred to Guo's bank card account to purchase virtual currency, which was then transferred to the specified virtual currency account of the other party, who then paid commissions to An and others in proportion. An and others helped criminals transfer a large amount of funds in this manner, including verified amounts defrauded from victims such as Tang, Zhu, and Tong, totaling over 500,000 yuan.

The People's Procuratorate of Tongzhou District, Beijing has filed a public prosecution against defendants An and two others for the crime of concealing and hiding criminal proceeds to the People's Court of Tongzhou District. After trial, the People's Court of Tongzhou District found that based on the testimonies of the three defendants and evidence extracted from the involved mobile phones, it is sufficient to determine that the three defendants knew that the funds they handled were criminal proceeds. Defendants An and the others, knowing that these were proceeds of crime, used methods such as virtual currency to assist in the transfer of criminal funds, which constitutes the crime of concealing and hiding criminal proceeds, and the circumstances are serious. Defendant An was sentenced to three years and three months in prison and fined 40,000 yuan; defendant Chen was sentenced to three years and three months in prison and fined 40,000 yuan; defendant Guo was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison and fined 30,000 yuan. After the verdict, there were no appeals or protests, and the judgment has taken effect.