The seven-member gang was convicted of all money laundering! Up to 514 million RMB involved
Seven people have been sentenced for running a secret money laundering ring designed to help international students bypass restrictions on cash transfers out of China. The ring laundered a total of £55 million.
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Four suspects, including three men and a woman, were sentenced at Snellsbrook Crown Court in the UK on Monday for multiple money laundering charges. In June this year, three people have already been sentenced for similar offenses, with sentences ranging from 11 months to 12 years, and all seven are from China.
According to the rules, Chinese nationals cannot transfer more than $50,000 (about £38,000) per year for personal use out of the country. In order to regulate this, Chinese nationals must process all transactions through a foreign exchange account opened with a Chinese bank.
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Some people circumvent this limit by using “underground banks”. In a report released in 2019, the National Crime Agency (NCA) noted that this practice may be widespread among the Chinese community in the UK. Officers in Stoke Newington, north London, found that between February 2020 and June 2023, the group laundered £55 million, or 514 million yuan, through Chinese underground banks!
In December 2022 officers executed two search warrants simultaneously. At the first search site in London's Canary Wharf, police found a bag of more than £104,000 in cash hidden in a closet at the homes of Xiaoyu Shu, 29, and Yin Ying Wang, 28.
The second place searched was the residence of 28-year-old Yunchen Huang, where police found multiple money counting machines and bags of money. In total, police seized nearly half a million pounds in assets from the gang.
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Specialist officers found that Shu Xiaoyu and Yunchen Huang sold pounds to university students through a Chinese messaging app to get around foreign exchange restrictions. They also found that Shu Xiaoyu and Huang Yunchen were instructed to collect large sums of cash, sometimes as much as £250,000 at a time.
The pair were not told the identity of the person collecting the money and were instructed to take a photograph of a £5 bill that included a unique serial number. The photograph was then passed to the courier so that both parties could interact without knowing each other's identities, in case they were arrested and gave information to the police.
Police also discovered that Peng Liu, 28, and Ang Li, 26, also living in Canary Wharf, were helping the gang run an unregistered money laundering business.2023 When officers searched their Canary Wharf address in June, they found money counting machines and £14,600.2024 The police also discovered that the money counting machines were being used by the gang, and that the money counting machines were not being used by the gang.
Police subsequently identified 29-year-old Qiji Wang, who lived in Manchester, as the ringleader. During a search of his home, police found several cell phones, computers, bank cards in other people's names, and a money counting machine.
Ruolan Chen, 28, who also lives in Manchester, was also found to have helped the gang by running an unregistered money laundering business.
Detective Constable Zach Rowe, of Stoke Newington's Proactive Crime Team, said: 'Thanks to the tireless efforts of highly professional officers from the Metropolitan Police, we have managed to crack this complex economic crime ring. The scale of this money laundering was massive and will fuel criminal activity such as illegal drug supply, prostitution and human trafficking.” “This conviction, and the three year long investigation that led to it, demonstrates that no matter how complex the case, we will leave no stone unturned in our pursuit of criminals who seek to enjoy the proceeds of illicit funds.”
