A Chinese court near Chongqing sentenced 21 people for online fraud, CoinDesk reported.
Two defendants with surnames Jiang and Zheng employed 19 other money mules used decentralized wallet Bitpie to move $307 million in Tether (USDT) to local P2P exchanges on virtual currency platforms for Renminbi conversion.
The same funds were later withdrawn in traditional currency in different cities across the country under false usages like project payments and workers’ wages.
Jiang benefitted $3 million for his efforts.
Jiang and Zheng will be charged with an RMB 500,000 fine and six years, three months, and six years imprisonment, respectively.
There is no source where the USDT has come from, but it is a popular digital asset used by fraud rings operating in Southeast Asia.
Recently, China lifted its ban on non-fungible tokens (NFT), a digital asset that represents unique and scarce items such as art, collectibles, gaming items, and more, Techopedia reported.
The move came on the heels of China declaring all cryptocurrency transactions as illegal in September 2021 and shutting down the domestic crypto trading and mining industry. The country is constantly trying to promote its digital currency, digital Yuan to develop its international influence and monetary freedom.
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