A Shanghai court has sentenced five Chinese individuals to up to six years in prison for facilitating more than $29.4 million in illegal cross-border foreign exchange transactions using crypto.
In a post published Monday, the Shanghai Jingan District People's Procuratorate wrote that the authorities have arrested nine individuals. Five defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 2.5 years to six years, along with fines between 300,000 yuan ($44,150) and 1.5 million yuan ($220,780).
In July 2024, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) discovered unusual transactions tied to a company that helped domestic clients illegally transfer funds abroad using cryptocurrencies, moving more than 200 million yuan ($29.4 million) over three years.
The group targeted high-net-worth clients seeking to purchase overseas property, emigrate or study abroad, and expanded its illegal cross-border transaction services through a network of regular agents, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors added that the group leveraged the anonymity of onchain transactions to conceal the fund flows, making it more difficult for authorities to collect evidence.
