The scam attracted over 700 investors who invested over $76 million in a non-existing crypto-mining firm.
A 61-year-old Dutch national, Yang Bin, has been arrested and sentenced to about ten years in prison for launching a crypto Ponzi scheme in Singapore. He spearheaded the creation of a company that claims to own 300,000 mining machines. Bin and his accomplices also developed an app displaying fake returns to trick investors into believing they were venturing into a legitimate investment platform.
Bin Launched Fake Investment Company
Bin pleaded guilty and admitted to running A&A Blockchain Innovation in Singapore as a crypto mining company in 2021. Alongside Bin was Lu Huangbin, who operated as the company’s CEO, while Chen Wei acted as Director. Wang Xinghong also joined the scheme as the company’s Chief Technological Officer.
A&A Blockchain Innovation claimed to have agreed with Yunnan Shun Ai Yun Xun Investment Holdings to acquire 70% ownership of 300,000 mining machines in Yunnan, China, that could mine Bitcoin and Ethereum and generate enough funds to pay investors 0.5% returns daily. However, the company didn’t have any machines. Bin and his associates used funds from late investors to pay early investors.
To support its claim, A&A created presentation slides and videos to entice investors and build their confidence in the legitimacy of its scam project. Further, Bin and Co. developed an application that investors could use to buy tokens and invest in the mining scheme. Unknown to the investors, the app was a centralized software where system managers would input random figures anytime they wanted to display them as fake returns to users and investors.
Court Takes Action Against Bin and His Accomplices
Over 700 investors deposited over $5.1 million into Bin’s A&A project. A few investors gained small returns from payments received by the platform. However, a more significant number of investors are experiencing massive losses.
Bin’s charges involved 12 victims who deposited over $1.3 million and have lost about $845,000. Following the case, the officials seized about $76.8 million from the infamous Dutch national, which he confessed was money gained from A&A investors.
Moreover, District Judge Brenda Chua stated that Bin was the mastermind behind the scheme, so his punishment would be much more severe than his accomplices.
His partner, Xinghong, has been sentenced to five years in prison.
Bin would be jailed for cheating, working without a valid work pass, and hiring a foreign employee without a valid work pass. Reports show that he could be sentenced to more than ten years in prison and fined more than $42,000 with no hope of returning the confiscated funds.
