Suspect converted HuiOne Pay coins for 1.6 billion won fee; funds moved through Chinese traders and gold dealers
Prosecutors have indicted a man in his 30s, held in custody, on charges of helping launder more than 700 billion won ($507 million) in criminal proceeds through HuiOne Pay, the payment system of Cambodia's HuiOne Group.
HuiOne Pay has been identified as a money-laundering conduit for transnational criminal organizations engaged in fraud and human trafficking in Cambodia and elsewhere, and faced international financial sanctions — including from the United States — last year. Allegations have also surfaced that North Korea has used HuiOne Pay to launder money.
The Incheon District Prosecutors Office's International Crime Investigation Division, led by chief prosecutor Yu Byeong-guk, indicted the suspect, identified only as A, on June 1 on charges of violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, and the Act on Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment. A, who was born in China, is believed to have naturalized as a South Korean citizen in 2008.
A is accused of receiving approximately 747.6 billion won ($541 million) worth of virtual assets through overseas cryptocurrency exchanges between March 2022 and August last year, converting them into Korean won on domestic exchanges, and withdrawing the funds as checks or cash before handing them to Chinese traders — all in exchange for a fee of about 1.6 billion won ($1.16 million).
The traders are believed to have used the money to purchase cosmetics at duty-free shops and deliver them to criminal organizations in Hong Kong and elsewhere. A also faces charges of channeling some funds by paying gold purchase costs on behalf of clients at domestic gold dealers. Investigators determined during the probe that the virtual assets A had converted were coins laundered through HuiOne Pay.
Police and prosecutors cooperated closely from the earliest stages of the investigation. Police launched the probe last August after receiving a report from a domestic commercial bank connected to a cryptocurrency exchange, and in March applied for an arrest warrant for A — which prosecutors sought but a court rejected.
After prosecutors requested additional investigation, police conducted further work including account tracing. In April, a court granted a preservation order, freezing approximately 4.1 billion won ($2.97 million) in A's bank deposits. Police applied for a new arrest warrant late last month, and this time the court issued it, placing A in detention.
Prosecutors took over the case from police in mid-May and conducted their own supplementary investigation, including questioning A as a suspect and analyzing records of virtual asset conversions and export declarations.
During the prosecutorial investigation, additional crimes were identified: A had established a corporation and purchased gold through wire transfers to domestic gold dealers before exporting it. Prosecutors recalculated the criminal proceeds and forfeiture amounts on that basis before indicting A. By Yang Geun-hyuk
yg@heraldcorp.com
