On July 30, the defendants Wan Mou Yuan, Chen Mou Wen, and Huang Mou Yuan conducted illegal foreign exchange trading activities outside the state-designated trading venues for profit from 2020 to 2021. Among them, defendant Wan Mou Yuan was responsible for contacting customers who needed US dollars and coordinating with Chen Mou Wen to contact Huang Mou Yuan, transferring corresponding RMB or USDT purchased with RMB to Huang Mou Yuan's RMB collection account or USDT receiving address. Huang Mou Yuan used two Hong Kong company accounts to transfer US dollars to the collection company account provided by Chen Mou Wen and send the dollar transfer "receipt" to Chen Mou Wen. After the transaction was finalized or dollars were received, customers transferred the RMB used to purchase dollars to Wan Mou Yuan's bank account or settled through other means. According to an accounting firm's investigation, from November 2020 to March 30, 2021, Wan Mou Yuan and Chen Mou Wen conducted illegal foreign exchange trading activities, collecting a total of 234.04 million RMB from customers for purchasing US dollars.
The case was initially handled by the Muchuan County People's Court in Leshan City, Sichuan Province. The court noted that the case involved determining the nature of foreign exchange trading using virtual currency as a medium, with differences in understanding virtual currency's legality across regions. Additionally, one defendant was a Hong Kong resident, and defendants repeatedly used virtual currencies for transfers between different currencies. Considering the case's novelty and high social attention, the court requested a transfer to the Leshan Intermediate People's Court in Sichuan Province.
After trial, the Leshan Intermediate People's Court issued a ruling on August 28, 2024, with case number (2023) Chuan 11 Xing Chu 24, determining that trading foreign exchange outside designated venues or converting RMB to US dollars through a "foreign exchange-virtual currency-RMB" method using virtual currency as a medium constitutes illegal business operations that disrupt financial market order. Defendant Wan Mou Yuan was sentenced to six years in prison and fined 740,000 RMB. Considering other crimes, the final sentence is thirteen years and six months in prison with a fine of 1.14 million RMB. Defendants Huang Mou Yuan and Chen Mou Wen were sentenced to five years and six months and two years and six months in prison, respectively, with fines of 710,000 and 250,000 RMB. After the first-instance verdict, defendants accepted the judgment, and the prosecutor did not appeal, making the verdict legally effective. (Red Star News)
