12 individuals, including the director of a cryptocurrency exchange, a famous YouTuber, and tens of millions of USD have been arrested and had their assets seized by Hong Kong police as part of an investigation.
During a press conference on September 27, Hong Kong police announced temporary investigation results regarding the scandal involving the JPEX cryptocurrency exchange platform.
Specifically, according to Chris Tang Ping-Keung, Hong Kong Secretary for Security, as of the current time, 12 arrests have been made, and assets worth 77 million HKD (9.8 million USD), including real estate and digital assets, along with over 8 million HKD (1 million USD) in cash, have been seized. However, according to the South China Morning Post, the total number of arrests has now risen to 15 individuals.
Among those arrested are three technical support staff from JPEX, as well as YouTubers Chan Wing-yee and Chu Ka-fa. Another individual taken into custody is 23-year-old Chung Wai-hin, director of the unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange Money Lupin. Sheena Leung, an influential operator of the YouTube channel “sheung-8888” and an employee at the Unicoin OTC cryptocurrency shop, is the third individual arrested, along with a 28-year-old man named Wong.
The JPEX cryptocurrency exchange is accused of operating an unlicensed exchange in the country and defrauding customers out of millions of USD. Local Hong Kong police have received a total of 2,369 complaints from victims who lost their hard-earned money on an unregulated cryptocurrency exchange. The estimated losses amount to 1.4 billion HKD (178 million USD), making it the largest scam in the country.
Currently, Hong Kong police are actively pursuing the mastermind behind the JPEX scandal, which could be a significant development in resolving the case. Additionally, the Director of Security noted that their forces are collaborating closely with the commission to prevent more fraudulent cases by enhancing education on safe trading practices.
According to the commission’s information, only two platforms, HashKey and OSL, have successfully received licenses to operate as retail cryptocurrency trading services in Hong Kong. Four other companies have submitted license applications awaiting approval, including HKVAX, HKBitEx, Hong Kong BGE, and Victory Fintech Company.