Over 30 People Charged In $24M Crypto Fraud Linked to Taiwan’s ACE Exchange

cryptonews.com:

Taiwan prosecutors charged 32 individuals with fraud and money laundering linked to ACE Exchange, the Taipei Times reported Friday.

The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted key figures involved with the exchange. These include founder David Pan, his business partner Lin Keng-hong, and former chairman Wang Chen-huan.

In a staggering fraud, prosecutors estimate over 1,200 people lost a combined total of NT$800m ($24.56m).

Prosecutors allege that starting in 2019, the suspects convinced investors to buy NFTC tokens, bitnature coins, mochange (a token created by ACE Exchange), and other tokens. They are also accused of creating white papers and other materials to make their scheme appear legitimate.

In addition to promoting the tokens, Pan and Lin allegedly promised to turn ACE Exchange into Asia’s leading ecosystem for crypto trading. However, many investors saw their tokens lose significant value.

These investors, finding they were unable to convert their tokens back to Taiwanese dollars as promised, reportedly filed complaints triggering a judicial investigation.

ACE Exchange didn’t return Cryptonews’ request for comment by press time.

According to authorities, the suspects engaged in a two-pronged scheme to defraud investors. First, they advertised tokens aggressively across various media channels, while manipulating their exchange prices to create an illusion.

Then, after selling these tokens and other blockchain products for a total exceeding NT$2.2b ($72.54m), prosecutors allege the suspects directed others to conceal the money across various locations, including a real estate purchase in Yilan County.

Prosecutors further alleged that Wang, while implicated in the scheme, received around NT$43m ($1.3m). They claim