Two Hong Kong men allegedly involved in money laundering activities by the ill-fated Hong Kong-based virtual currency trading platform JPEX were arrested last Thursday in Macau for transferring illicit funds to Macau, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon said during a special conference a day later.
After questioning by the local police and prosecutors, both were sent back on Saturday.
The 29-year-old suspects are surnamed Ho and Lo. Ho works as a currency exchange shop employee while Lo is a network engineer.
According to Leng, the Judiciary Police had recently received a report from the Hong Kong police that JPEX had transferred illicit funds to Macau. The police identified Ho and Lo, who had frequented local casinos and opened gambling accounts last month, as possible suspects.
The police intercepted the two suspects in a hotel room in Zape last Thursday and discovered a total of HK$6.5 million in casino chips and HK$70,000 in cash on them. The police immediately requested the casino to freeze any gambling accounts belonging to the duo and their accomplices. Leng added that the frozen accounts held a total of HK$8.2 million.
Ho and Lo refused to cooperate, Leng pointed out.
According to Leng, the police received reports from three residents in late September that they had downloaded the mobile application “JPEX WALLET,” operated by JPEX, through a social media advertisement link and invested through the app. Later, they learnt that JPEX had not obtained a licence from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission to operate a virtual asset trading platform in Hong Kong. When they attempted to withdraw their money from the app, their requests were declined, leading them to believe that they had been deceived and reported the case to the police. The three victims reported a total loss of 1.4 million patacas.
Ho and Lo were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) for further questioning on Friday, after which they were sent back to Hong Kong by the Immigration Department of the Public Security Police (PSP) on Saturday, according to a PJ statement that night.
Evidence, such as bank notes and casino chips, is displayed during last Friday’s special press conference at the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters in Zape.
