Working with Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau and the Taipei District Prosecutors Office, the Financial Crimes Compliance (FCC) Department of Binance has resolved a 200 million New Taiwan dollars ($6.2 million) virtual asset fraud in a major money laundering case.
The official statement made clear that the operation let crooks use bitcoin transactions to wash their illicit earnings. To get past law enforcement, the con artists used fictitious remittance paperwork, phony identity documents, and altered customer communication records.
Working with Binance, Taipei District Prosecutors Office prosecutor Lo Wei-yuan was able to untangle the strands and put together the complete picture of the suspicions against nine indicted persons who were charged with money laundering, fraud, and organized crime in compliance with pertinent laws and regulations.
The release noted: “Upon receiving the request, Binance set up a cross-border online meeting with the investigating officers and prosecutors to discuss the collaborative strategy.”
Beyond the usual compliance, Binance has taken steps and actively collaborated with law enforcement organizations all around the world. Among these is the first law enforcement training program in their business, a global coordinated effort to support prosecutors and law enforcement in identifying financial and cybercrimes and in prosecuting offenders.
Within Taiwan, Binance has become well-known. It filed for registration last year under the Money Laundering Control Act and the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) of Taiwan. The exchange has already been acknowledged by local regulatory agencies for its cooperative efforts in supporting investigations into fraud involving virtual assets.
Furthermore, the company shared its knowledge to fight crimes involving virtual assets in March by holding a virtual asset law enforcement training session for officers from the Keelung District Prosecutors Office in Taiwan.
Taiwanese authorities, in the in the meantime, intend to enact cryptocurrency laws by the end of 2024. Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) head Huang Tianzhu has expressed worries over illicit activities driven by cryptocurrencies and intends to strengthen its supervision of cryptocurrency exchanges and apply punishments.
The suggested legislation would expose international bitcoin platforms to criminal consequences unless they registered as AML entities locally.
AML regulations now in place in Taiwan may be amended by the Ministry of Justice to include fines of up to $1.5 million and jail terms of up to two years for noncompliant businesses. The changes are meant to firmly control money laundering prevention procedures for cryptocurrency service providers and intensify the war on fraud.