Binance has teamed up with the Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Justice of Taiwan and the Taipei District Prosecutor’s Office to solve a significant case involving money laundering through cryptocurrencies.
The investigation centered around illicit funds worth nearly 200 million Taiwan dollars, the equivalent of about $6 million, the exchange said in a press release made available to CryptoNews.
According to the announcement, Binance’s cooperation, leveraging the expertise of the Financial Crimes Compliance Department (FCC) and intelligence sharing, played a key role in bringing the perpetrators to justice.
This criminal operation has long served groups of fraudsters using virtual assets to launder money. The perpetrators used a variety of tactics, including falsifying customer call records, transfer receipts and falsified identity verification data, to create the illusion of legitimate transactions. Their activities did not go unnoticed, however, and law enforcement eventually caught up with them.
Police traced and monitored several suspicious cryptocurrency transactions and sought relevant information from various parties, including Binance.
“Upon receiving the request, Binance quickly responded and held a cross-border online meeting with investigators and prosecutors to discuss strategies for cooperation,” – the exchange wrote.
“Binance’s experienced FCC teams provided insights and recommendations based on analysis of cryptocurrency flows, thus helping to more effectively narrow down the circle of potential suspects.”
Prosecutor Lo Wei-Yuan of the Taipei District Prosecutor’s Office, who oversaw the case, last month filed an indictment against nine suspects on charges of aggravated fraud, violation of the Money Laundering Control Act, and violation of organized crime prevention laws.
Expressing gratitude for Binance’s cooperation, prosecutor Lo Wei-Yuan said Binance is “actively and continuously cooperating with Taiwan’s law enforcement agencies.”
Damien Ho, representative of Binance’s Asia-Pacific (APAC) team, said Binance is committed to fighting financial crime and protecting the integrity of the Web3 ecosystem. “We will continue to uphold this goal and deepen our cooperation with global law enforcement agencies.”
Binance looks at global expansion
Last week, India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND) revealed that Binance has successfully registered with the regulatory body, returning to the country after some regulatory hurdles.
Earlier, the exchange announced that it had obtained a license from Dubai regulator VARA, allowing the platform to serve retail, as well as qualified and institutional clients. According to Bloomberg, in the licensing process, Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao relinquished voting control of the Dubai entity.
Moreover, earlier this year Binance unveiled its joint cryptocurrency exchange Binance Thailand, which operates in partnership with Gulf Innova, a subsidiary of Gulf Energy Development. Binance Thailand, or Binance TH for short, provides a platform for digital asset exchange services with trading pairs in Thai baht.
It is worth noting that Binance is under increasing regulatory scrutiny around the world.
Last year, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) brought charges against Binance for allegedly operating an illegal digital derivatives exchange and evading federal regulations.
Similarly, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Binance Holdings LTD and former CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) for allegedly operating unregistered exchanges, brokerage exchanges, clearing houses and unregistered offer and sale of securities.