According to the 21st Century Business Herald, on October 28, the Beijing Municipal People's Procuratorate released its "Typical Cases of High-Quality and Efficient Performance of Financial Procuratorial Duties" (2024-2025). This included a case involving "disguised foreign exchange trading using virtual currency, involving over 1.1 billion yuan." From January to August 2023, Lin A, under the instructions of others, colluded with Lin B, Xia, Bao, and Chen to use multiple bank cards in the names of five individuals to receive large amounts of RMB funds from clients of the "upstream" of an illegal foreign exchange exchange organization, such as Liu. The gang used virtual currency as a "bridge" to facilitate cross-border funds transfers. Lin A and others converted the RMB they received into USDT through multiple Tether (USDT) trading platform accounts they controlled, then completed cross-border fund transfers through the platforms, effectively engaging in disguised foreign exchange trading and profiting from the proceeds. According to the report, the total illegal business activities of the gang amounted to over 1.182 billion RMB, of which five members, including Xia and Bao, participated in activities ranging from over 149 million RMB to over 469 million RMB. On March 21, 2025, the Haidian District People's Court of Beijing issued a first-instance verdict, sentencing all five defendants to prison terms ranging from two to four years for illegal business operations and imposing corresponding fines.
