Seven people have reportedly been indicted in Taiwan for allegedly running a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment scheme that is said to have attracted about $51 million worth of investments since October of 2016.
According to local media, the seven individuals had been arrested on June 13 of last year, but were only now officially charged with violating banking and business laws in the country. Citing the case’s prosecutors, local news outlet Focus Taiwan noted that a bitcoin investment scheme by itself would be violating the law if it succeeded, but added this one promised investors returns of up to 355% a year.
Despite the promises, the prosecution detailed that most investors didn’t see any return after February of last year, and that these ceased completely in April. This has seen those responsible face additional charges.
One of the seven charged is said to have established offices to attract Taiwanese and Chinese investors. This saw the scheme managed to defraud over 1,000 people in Taiwan, according to the Investigation Bureau under the country’s Ministry of Justice (MJIB).
As CryptoGlobe covered, Taiwan is a country that has looked into cryptocurrency regulations to curb money laundering. Last year, the country’s central bank governor, Yang Chin-long, revealed he believes cryptocurrencies lack a trust element, and that they cannot hold value.
Per his words, the crypto market is highly speculative, and as such cryptos aren’t a reliable payment method. Despite this less-than-positive perspective, Taiwan has so far only cracked down on anonymous cryptocurrency transactions.
