Taiwan jails Cointhink leader 22 years over USDT scam

The Shilin District Court on July 20 sentenced a man surnamed Shih to 22 years in prison for leading the Cointhink cryptocurrency fraud that affected 1,539 investors and netted more than $37.14 million (NT$1.2 billion).

Prosecutors found Shih promoted Cointhink Technology as ‘the only platform authorized by the Financial Supervisory Commission’ in Taiwan to attract investors. Fourteen people were indicted in total on charges that included violations of the Fraud Crime Prevention Act.

Investigators reported that victims were instructed to buy Tether’s USDT with cash or transfer existing USDT holdings to designated cold wallets. The operation then routed the cryptocurrency through multiple layered transfers and created deliberate “breakpoints” intended to hinder tracing.

Prosecutors’ records show the syndicate processed more than $71.3 million in total USDT volume between January 2014 and April 2015 as part of the laundering pipeline. After moving funds through the crypto transfers, members converted proceeds into U.S. dollars and transferred them to offshore bank accounts.

The indictment against Shih and his 13 co-defendants was filed last August by the Shih-chung District Prosecutors Office, which requested confiscation of all ill-gotten gains and had sought combined prison terms totaling 25 years. The court imposed a 22-year sentence on Shih. He retains the right to appeal.

Prosecutors are seeking asset seizure from the other defendants named in the case. The investigations cite the use of false regulatory claims, on-chain transfers, cash transactions and offshore banking in the scheme.