Yang Bin, one of China’s foremost figures in business and the country’s second-richest man of 2001, according to Forbes, has been sentenced to six years in prison in Singapore. That is, according to a local news report by CNA. The sentencing order came as a result of his involvement in a crypto investment fraud scheme.
Yang Found Guilty on 8 Crypto Fraud Charges
As the court found out, the Chinese-Dutch national is guilty of leading a multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme under the guise of a crypto investment operation.
The sentencing took place on Monday, August 26, after an investigation into Yang’s company, A&A Blockchain Innovation, revealed some uncomfortable truths.
Founded in April 2021, A&A reportedly operated without a valid work permit. Furthermore, Yang falsely claimed that the company owned 300,000 crypto mining machines capable of delivering daily returns of 0.5% to investors. As it turned out, however, the claims were entirely false, and there were really no mining machines anywhere.
Meanwhile, to keep up with the Ponzi scheme, A%A fabricated the returns it promised investors, albeit in the classic way. Robbing Peter to pay Paul, the operation paid old investors with money from new ones.
From May 2021 through to February 2022, the scheme would lure over 700 investors, promising them substantial returns from crypto mining, a sector that continues to garner worldwide interest.
Attracted by the prospect of earning great amounts of profits in passive income, these unsuspecting victims threw in about S$6.7 million into the scheme. That is over $5 million.
Essentially, the entire business turned out to be nothing more than a front for a scam. Hence, the court’s decision to sentence Yang. Alongside the jail sentence, Yang will also pay a fine of S$16,000 (approximately $12,200).
Notably, legal proceedings are also currently ongoing against Yang’s co-accused Wang Xinghong, who was tasked with developing an app that faked investment returns. However, District Judge Brenda Chua has noted that Yang played a more prominent role in the fraud scheme.
