The Sichuan court in China is hearing a case of using virtual currency to resell foreign exchange, involving an amount exceeding 200 million yuan

According to BlockBeats, on July 30th, from 2020 to 2021, the defendants Wan Mouyuan, Chen Mouwen, and Huang Mouyuan engaged in illegal buying and selling of foreign exchange outside of designated trading venues for profit. Among them, the defendant Wan Mouyuan was responsible for contacting customers who needed US dollars, and contacted Huang Mouyuan through Chen Mouwen to transfer the corresponding RMB or USDT (virtual currency Tether) purchased in RMB to the RMB receiving account or USDT receiving address provided by Huang Mouyuan. Huang Moyuan used two Hong Kong company accounts under his control to transfer US dollars online to the receiving company account provided by Chen Mowen, and sent the US dollar transfer receipt (remittance voucher) to Chen Mowen. After the transaction is settled or the customer receives US dollars, they will transfer the RMB purchased in US dollars to the bank account provided by Wanmou Garden, or pay RMB through payment settlement with Wanmou Garden, and finally complete the transaction. According to the investigation conducted by the accounting firm, between November 2020 and March 30, 2021, Wan Mouyuan and Chen Mouwen engaged in illegal foreign exchange trading activities outside the designated trading venues, collecting a total of 230.04 million RMB from customers for purchasing US dollars. The case was initially accepted by the People's Court of Muchuan County, Leshan City, Sichuan Province. The court believed that the case involved the determination of the nature of buying and selling foreign exchange through virtual currency as a medium. Due to differences in the understanding of the legality of virtual currency in different regions, there are differences in the determination of the nature of this behavior in practice; Meanwhile, one of the defendants in the case is a Hong Kong resident who has repeatedly used virtual currency as a payment method to transfer between different currencies for profit. Considering that the situation of this case belongs to a new type within the jurisdiction and has high social attention, we hereby request the Intermediate People's Court of Leshan City, Sichuan Province to elevate its jurisdiction. After trial, the Intermediate People's Court of Leshan City, Sichuan Province, made a judgment on August 28, 2024 (2023) Chuan 11 Xing Chu No. 24: the act of buying and selling foreign exchange outside the trading venues designated by the state, or using virtual currency as a trading medium to convert the value of RMB and USD, disguised buying and selling foreign exchange, and disrupting the order of the financial market, constitutes the crime of illegal business operation. The defendant Wan Mouyuan committed the crime of illegal operation and was sentenced to six years in prison and fined RMB 740000. Wan Mouyuan is also involved in other crimes and has been sentenced to 13 years and 6 months in prison with a fine of RMB 1.14 million. The defendants Huang and Chen committed the crime of illegal business operations and were sentenced to five years and six months in prison and two years and six months in prison, respectively, and fined RMB 710000 and RMB 250000. After the first instance verdict, the defendant complied with the verdict and withdrew from prosecution, and the procuratorate did not object. The verdict has taken legal effect. (Red Star News)