In the fraud and money laundering case involving Ace Exchange, a cryptocurrency trading platform, Taiwanese prosecutors are suggesting that the four primary suspects receive terms of 20 years in jail.The creator of Ace Exchange, David Pan, his business associate Lin Keng-hong, and well-known lawyer Wang Chen-huan, who chaired the exchange, were among the thirty-two individuals indicted by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on allegations of fraud and money laundering, according to a local news report.Prosecutors now estimate that more than 1,200 people were defrauded, with an estimated 800 million New Taiwan dollars ($24.56 million) in losses suffered overall.This represents a rise over the 340 million NT$ ($10.6 million) in losses that were previously projected.
According to the report, the scale of the losses justifies the sentence recommendation. The prosecutors also recommended at least 12 years for Wang, considering his status as a director of a well-known law firm and his alleged role in assisting the scheme.
After conducting raids at multiple locations, including Ace’s headquarters, Taipei City Police detained Pan and 14 other individuals connected to the investigation in January 2024.Pan’s connection to the phony cryptocurrency wallet service known as “Alfred” or “Afu wallet,” as well as a connected cryptocurrency card, was discovered through investigations.Prosecutors claim that in 2019, the accused used white papers and other promotional materials to boost their credibility while promoting investments in NFTC tokens, bitnature coins, mochange (an Ace Exchange token), and other tokens.
Pan and Lin wanted Ace Exchange to become Asia’s most complete blockchain ecosystem for cryptocurrency trading during their marketing campaigns.Still, a lot of investors saw a significant drop in token values.They filed complaints for a legal investigation as they were unable to convert them back to New Taiwan dollars as promised.It has been reported that a Taiwanese court ordered the seizure of the defendant’s property, with some of the seized goods valued at least 3.5 million NT$, or $110,000.Ace Exchange released a statement on April 8 in response to the charges, restating that Pan and his fraudulent activities were unrelated to the platform because he supposedly stopped being involved in day-to-day operations in 2022.
Taiwan-based Ace Exchange is a less well-known centralized cryptocurrency exchange.Launched in late 2018, the platform trades about $14 million daily, according to CoinMarketCap data.Ace Exchange has a trust score of 2.78 out of 10, making it a “high-risk cryptocurrency exchange” based on Traders Union data.