Hong Kong Arrests Eight In Connection With Suspected $152 Million Fraud At JPEX Crypto Exchange

Hong Kong police arrested eight people in connection with a suspected $152 million fraud at beleaguered crypto exchange JPEX.

The police have received 1,641 complaints from people who are unable to recover money from JPEX, according to a Sept. 19 press briefing. Twenty locations were raided across the city, including offices and over-the-counter (OTC) shops, with cash, jewellery, luxury handbags, computers, and phones worth about HK$8 million seized, the police said.

Things began to unravel for JPEX on Friday, when Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Exchange Commission (SFC) released a name-and-shame statement that said the exchange is not licenced to operate in Hong Kong. It also warned that JPEX had provided false information about obtaining licenses from foreign regulators, promoted business partnerships that never materialized, and was offering suspiciously high returns for its interest-bearing products.

 

 

The warning triggered a liquidity squeeze as JPEX market makers froze its funds, the exchange said in a blog post.

”They demanded more information from the platform for negotiation, restricting our liquidity and significantly increasing our daily operating costs, leading to operational difficulties,” it said.

JPEX suspended the operations of its Earn program and subsequently hiked its withdrawal fees with some JPEX users saying that the exchange charged a withdrawal fee of 999 USDT for a maximum amount of 1,000 USDT. JPEX promised to “gradually adjust the withdrawal fees back to normal levels,” adding that it would need to restructure to maintain stable operations.

Among those arrested were social media personalities Chan Hoi-yee and Joseph Lam Chok, who actively promoted JPEX and owned and operated OTC cryptocurrency exchange shops in Hong Kong.

Police raided Lam’s office and OTC store in Central Hong Kong on Monday, and took away cash and a laptop computer. Chan’s office and OTC store in Tsim Sha Tsui were also raided, along with Coingaroo and Coiner OTC branches, local media said.

JPEX Under Scrutiny

JPEX has been on the SFC’s investor alert list since July 2022, when it urged people to be ”extremely careful if they plan to invest on unregulated platforms.”

JPEX claims on its website that its operating headquarters is located in Dubai and under the supervision of the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority of Dubai (VARA), the SFC says JPEX is not on the public list of licensed virtual assets service providers published by VARA.

Related Article

  • Crypto Whale Makes $150 Million Bet That Says Ether Will Surge 33% By year End And 20% By Next Month
  • JPEX Crypto Exchange Suspends Some Operations Amid Liquidity Squeeze After Hong Kong Regulator Names and Shames It
  • US Justice Department Wants Key Sam Bankman-Fried Jury Questions Thrown Out

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1inch DEX aggregator deploys on Ethereum’s layer-2, Base

1inch Network is integrating its decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregation protocol on Ethereum’s layer-2 solution, Base. The decentralized finance (defi) protocol said the goal is to tap liquidity from leading DEXs, including Uniswap, Balancer, SushiSwap, and Base Swap. In this way, they can refine and offer better swap rates. A highlight of this integration is the inclusion of a limit order feature for Base users to exercise more control over their trades. This allows them to set a specific price at which they wish to execute their transactions. Trades are then automatically processed once the market price aligns with the user’s predetermined value. 1/ A new adventure begins Our mascot, guided by #DeFi and #Web3 vibes, has again discovered a circular blue portal. Join us as # 1inch embarks on the next chapter of its thrilling journey, reshaping the industry's future! And remember to welcome @BuildOnBase! pic.twitter.com/6IPVx5Py3S — 1inch Network (@1inch) August 24, 2023
Read more

Crypto AI Economy Suffers $730 Million Loss in 2 Months as Interest Wanes

Image
Less than two months ago, a collection of 74 listed cryptocurrencies centered around artificial intelligence (AI) amassed an impressive $4 billion valuation. However, the intervening weeks have seen a sharp decline in crypto-AI economy gains, with losses of $730 million. The three most prominent AI-driven crypto projects have all suffered double-digit losses, ranging from 10% to 29.58%, against the U.S. dollar over the last 30 days. Interest in the Combination of Crypto and Artificial Intelligence Has Declined, Crypto-AI Token Economy Sheds $730M Various data points suggest that interest in and value of crypto-AI projects has waned. Global search trends for “crypto ai” peaked in early February 2023, with a Google Trends’ score of 100. Despite the rise, over the past 90 days, the score has slumped to a low of 22. Slovenia, the Netherlands, Cyprus, Lebanon, and Nigeria make up the top five countries interested in “crypto ai” searches at present. Global search trends according to Googl
Read more

Paysenger Offers The Best Of Web2 And Web3 On Its Social Platform

Paysenger has emerged as a popular choice for content creators and influencers due to its exciting platform that lets them collaborate with brands and interact with fans. The platform’s rapid growth has put its native token, EGO, on track to become one of the most attractive investment opportunities in the crypto space. The consistent development of the content creators’ market has led to a significant amount of investment flowing into this space, opening up a gap for an exclusive platform that specifically caters to the needs of influencers and social media personalities. Paysenger has managed to fill that gap with its collaboration platform that offers tools for content monetization and audience engagement. Paysenger has leveraged the power of Web3 to allow content creators to engage with their audience while simultaneously monetizing their popularity. The platform lets creators generate captivating content, sell posts on the NFT marketplace, engage in paid chats with the
Read more