Seattle man gets 5 years for $97M crypto laundering
Geoffrey K. Auyeung, 47, received five years for laundering $97.1 million by converting investor funds to Bitcoin, Ethereum and stablecoins and moving them to exchanges.
A Seattle-area man, Geoffrey K. Auyeung, 47, was sentenced to five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was arrested in 2024 and entered his guilty plea in February.
Prosecutors allege Auyeung collected investor payments between June 2022 and July 2024 that totaled $97.1 million. The government says victims were told their money would be invested in oil and gas projects and placed in a legitimate escrow account.
Court filings state Auyeung moved received funds quickly to bank accounts and cryptocurrency addresses provided by co-conspirators. He converted large sums of fiat into Bitcoin, Ethereum and dollar-backed stablecoins such as USDT and USDC on exchanges including Gemini, Bitstamp and Coinbase, and ultimately routed most tokens to Binance. Victims received no further communication after their funds were transferred.
Prosecutors described a pattern of funneling money through multiple accounts and entities, rapidly converting cash to crypto and dispersing tokens to many deposit addresses to reduce scrutiny. The government says Auyeung earned at least $4 million in commission payments for arranging these transfers.
Authorities seized more than $2.3 million from bank accounts, a vehicle and about $7.1 million from cryptocurrency wallets at the time of his arrest; Auyeung is forfeiting those assets.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd criticized Auyeung, stating, “Mr. Auyeung facilitated a fraud, developed by others, that stole investor money while lulling them with promises of a legitimate escrow account.” Floyd added that Auyeung continued to collect illicit fees after indictment and arrest, stating, “And even after he was indicted and arrested, Auyeung spent 16 months secretly still communicating with his co-conspirators and continuing to get his illicit fees by having the money go to his wife’s bank accounts. He showed utter disrespect for the law.”
The court imposed the five-year prison term and ordered forfeiture of the seized assets.
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