According to ETtoday, Liberty Times and other reports, Liu Li-en is the managing lawyer of Tian Yuan Law Firm and the former chairman of Taiwan Mingban Company. Over the past more than 10 years, he has frequently appeared at various blockchain and cryptocurrency technology startup forums and seminars. The Hong Kong Pager Digital Company he operates was once investigated by the prosecutors and police for suspected illegal resale of tens of thousands of phone numbers to fraud groups, but was not prosecuted due to lack of evidence.
Liu Li-en is suspected of establishing Himan Technology Company to assist 3 illegal gambling websites in money laundering, and it was found that the company failed to report transactions amounting to more than 39.4 billion yuan last year, earning a commission of up to 4.7 billion yuan. The Taipei District Prosecutors Office has indicted Liu Li-en and 16 other group members on charges of organized crime, gambling, and money laundering, and has requested a 9-year sentence for Liu Li-en.
The Taipei District Court held a transfer hearing last night, indicating that Liu Li-en and the co-defendant Li Chun-wei and Hsu Chia-hao who are in custody all have reasons for detention, and the co-defendant Lin Ting-hung has not yet been arrested, but there is no need for detention for the three of them. The court set bail of 4 million for Liu, 1.5 million for Li, and 500,000 for Hsu, all with restrictions on leaving the country, going out to sea, and changing residence.
Liu Li-en said that he was aware that Himan Company was indeed involved in receiving money from the gambling group, and admitted to the crime of gambling, but in his more than 20 years of entrepreneurship, he has never asked an accountant to falsify accounts, and the development direction of Himan Company for the past 10 years has always been the business model on the Internet, so he denies the prosecutor's allegations of violating the Commercial Accounting Act or the Organized Crime Prevention Act.
Laundered 470 million for the gambling group and was indicted
According to the indictment, in 2019, Liu Li-en was indicted for allegedly assisting a fraud group in money laundering, but during the court trial, he set up Himan Technology Company, claiming to be engaged in the sale of electronic gift certificates, but actually operating a third-party payment platform.
The investigation found that from January 1, 2022 to June 24, 2023, Himan Company laundered money for the "FA8 Casino", "DLY", "TU" and other illegal gambling websites and groups, earning 470 million yuan. Himan Company deliberately failed to report more than 4.27 million transactions that year, involving 19.78 billion yuan in receipts and 19.69 billion yuan in payments.
The prosecutor severely criticized that Liu Li-en has refined his fraud techniques to avoid investigation, downplayed the seriousness during the investigation, tried to confuse right and wrong, obstructed the investigation of the prosecutors and police, and deleted the dialogue records between Himan Company and merchants, showing a bad attitude after the crime. The court is requested to impose a heavy sentence of 9 years in prison.
In addition, Liu Li-en deliberately failed to report a transaction fee of about 4.27 million yuan that year, and filed a false financial report of Himan Company in 2023 to the National Tax Administration, involving violations of the Tax Collection Act, which is being investigated separately.
Roommate of Shen Ching-cheng in the Shen Cheng-jing Detention Center
In addition, it is worth noting that when Liu Li-en was previously detained, his roommate was Shen Ching-cheng, the detained defendant in the Jinghua City case and the chairman of the Weijing Group. The two often chatted while sharing the same room, and Shen Ching-cheng is suspected of repeatedly asking Liu Li-en for opinions on the case. Later, Shen Ching-cheng repeatedly applied for bail release due to serious illness, but was rejected by the court. After the two were exposed to be roommates, Liu Li-en was immediately transferred to another room.
