Police in Hong Kong and Macau on Friday said they had arrested four people “relatively close to the core” of cryptocurrency platform JPEX in a dramatic bust during which one suspect tried to destroy evidence using paper shredders and bleach. The Hong Kong Police Force revealed it was tracking down other fugitives over fraud and money-laundering offences. Two Hongkongers, both 29, have been detained in Macau with HK$6.5 million (US$830,390) in cash and valuables seized, along with HK$8.2 million frozen in their casino accounts. Hong Kong police arrest 12th suspect in connection with JPEX crypto scandal Another two men, both 28, were also arrested by Hong Kong police, including one surnamed Tang who was found destroying documents with paper shredders and bleach in the bathtub of a flat. The other was surnamed Wong, but no further details were released. The latest arrests bring the overall tally of those detained so far in the fast-expanding case to 19. Hong Kong police also seized cash and gold worth about HK$8.7 million at three flats in the latest operation. Chung Wing-man, assistant commissioner of police, declined to outline the roles of the four men at a press conference, but described them as “relatively close to the core” of the operations, adding the force had also located a number of fugitives who had fled the city. “We believe our investigation has reached figures that are close to the core, but we still need to find out whether the mastermind is an individual or a group,” said Chung. “We found the scale of the syndicate very big, there’s still massive investigation work that needs to be done,” she said. “The loss is expected to be more than HK$1.5 billion.” The latest operation in Hong Kong and Macau seized a total of HK$24 million in assets. Blockchain analytics firm Bitrace found earlier that 22 per cent of Tether, or USDT, tokens held in one of the wallets associated with JPEX had been labelled “contaminated” for ties with online gambling, the black market and money laundering. As of Friday, police said they had received 2,417 complaints against the trading platform involving more than HK$1.5 billion in alleged losses. Hong Kong security chief vows to hunt down ringleaders of JPEX crypto scandal Earlier arrests involved social media influencers who had set up their own over-the-counter crypto changer shops, including Chan Wing-yee, Joseph Lam Chok and Sheena Leung. Many victims are novice investors in virtual assets who had been drawn to the platform through the promotional drives of influencers and “investment classes” run by crypto-for-cash changer shops. Hype, celebrities and talk of easy money: a look behind Hong Kong’s JPEX scandal The JPEX saga unfolded on September 13 when watchdog the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) named the platform for operating in Hong Kong without a licence, accusing it of a number of “suspicious features”. Despite coming under fire, the platform remained defiant and hit users with an exorbitant fee on virtual asset withdrawals. Amid the withdrawal curbs, Bitrace still observed an “unusual outflow” of 7.21 billion USDTs out of JPEX wallets between September 13 and 20, which raised fears among users that the platform was attempting to drain its accounts. JPEX, which claims to be Dubai-based, has kept operating, though access to its services from Hong Kong has been blocked reportedly under a police order. The SFC, which put out nine alerts relating to virtual asset trading platforms before naming JPEX, has caught heat for not acting earlier against the platform. It has since released a list of exchange firms that have submitted applications for a licence under a regulatory regime that came into force in June.
Hong Kong, Macau police arrest 4 people ‘relatively close to core’ of JPEX crypto scandal, with 1 trying to destroy evidence in dramatic bust
