Taipei, Taiwan – In January this year, during the examination of a deceased individual, Taiwan’s Taichung District Prosecutor’s Office discovered suspicious company conversations related to money laundering on the deceased’s mobile phone. After expanding the investigation, it was revealed that the company’s owner, Zhang Jiahao, was suspected of conspiring with individuals from mainland China to establish a money laundering group in Taiwan. Following the prosecution’s investigation, Zhang Jiahao and 30 others were charged with money laundering and other offenses.
The Taichung District Prosecutor’s Office stated that on January 19, 2026, during the examination of the deceased employee’s case, phrases such as “bank card” and “USDT” were found in conversations and group records on the deceased’s phone with colleagues, which differed from the company’s business of text marketing and customer service. This raised suspicions about the company’s actual operational activities and potential involvement in a money laundering case.
The prosecution directed the Taichung City Police Bureau’s Criminal Police Brigade, Technology Crime Investigation Team, and Investigation Teams 1, 5, and 8, along with the Fourth Precinct, to form a special task force for the investigation. The task force found that Zhang Jiahao and others were suspected of conspiring with individuals from mainland China to establish a money laundering group for exchanging Chinese yuan and virtual asset USDT. Starting from July 2025, the group operated under the guise of Hui Xin Company and Xu He Company in offices in Taichung City, recruiting human resources, operations, and customer service personnel. They operated the NOW PAY, X PAY platforms and served as a customer service point in Taiwan for overseas money laundering groups.
According to the prosecution, the implicated group used the platforms for businesses with USDT trading needs, and also set up fake websites for Pokémon NFTs, Lord of the Rings games, and other purposes to act as a trading shell for fiat currency businesses, avoiding detection by authorities in mainland China. The customer service personnel hired by Zhang Jiahao were responsible for handling order issues and platform procedures for fiat currency businesses, assisting overseas groups in processing fund transfers, disguising and concealing the flow of illicit funds through indirect layering.
In the investigation, it was found that the NOW PAY platform was involved in suspected money laundering activities amounting to over 16.31 billion Taiwan dollars from November 2025 to August 2026, while the X PAY platform was involved in suspected money laundering activities amounting to over 3.81 billion Taiwan dollars from November 2025 to May 2026. The total amount of laundered money exceeded 20.12 billion Taiwan dollars, with the implicated group making profits of over 315.01 million Taiwan dollars.
From May to August 2026, the special task force conducted five searches, seizing mobile phones, computer mainframes, cash, and other evidence used in the crimes, and brought back Zhang Jiahao and 30 others for investigation. After a thorough investigation by the prosecution, it was determined that they had violated the Anti-Money Laundering Act and other laws. Prosecution has initiated legal proceedings and applied to the court for the confiscation of criminal proceeds.
The Taichung District Prosecutor’s Office urged that providers of virtual asset services should complete anti-money laundering procedures and service capacity registration in accordance with the law. They should not use companies, games, or NFT websites as cover-ups to illegally provide exchange services or assist overseas groups in layering illicit funds. The office emphasized that they will continue to track the flow of money and seize criminal proceeds related to such cross-border money laundering schemes and prosecute them to the full extent of the law.