Prosecutors should look into the SET Group’s possible links with ACE Exchange, a cryptocurrency trading platform whose founders have been indicted for fraud, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) said on Thursday.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office in late April indicted 32 people on fraud and money laundering charges related to ACE Exchange, seeking sentences of at least 20 years for the four primary suspects, including ACE Exchange founder David Pan (潘奕彰) and his business partner Lin Keng-hong (林耿宏).
Prosecutors said that more than 1,200 people were defrauded of an estimated total of NT$800 million (US$24.63 million).
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Wang said that Yi Chuan Holdings Co manager Hsieh Shih-ying (謝詩瑩) is under investigation for allegedly helping the group launder money, adding that Hsieh had close ties with the SET Group and Yi Chuan was founded with a joint investment from SET Group subsidiary Create Intelligence Inc.
Former deputy general manager of the SET’s media department, Lin Hui-chen (林慧珍), served as Yi Chuan’s supervisor, Wang said.
Yi Chuang was located on the third floor of the SET Group headquarters, and within a month of Yi Chuan’s founding, the SET Metro channel had aired Biboverse (Bibo願望合夥人), a program which was exclusively funded by ACE Exchange, she said.
The SET Group must explain the nature of its relations with a company allegedly involved in the fraud, she said, adding that the prosecutors should look into whether the funding for the program came from illegal sources.
Wang also called on the National Communications Commission to launch an investigation.
In response, Lin, who is also a manager at Create Intelligence Inc, said the company had terminated its collaboration with Yi Chuan when Hsieh was detained for alleged involvement in the ACE Exchange fraud investigations.
Create Intelligence has not invested in any cryptocurrency projects and has never collaborated with a company engaged in fraud, she said, adding that prosecutors should investigate the issue.
Lin said Biboverse was produced by a respected company, but SET canceled the program after the alleged illegal activities of the producer were revealed.
Separately, Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) on Thursday said that two veteran journalists, one surnamed Chiang (姜) and the other surnamed Lee (李), were also indicted for their alleged involvement in the case.
Huang said both had ties with the SET Group and they were indicted for allegedly encouraging people to invest in the Chaebol platform, which was selling non-fungible tokens (NFT).
Huang said that the group also established a company, Minsheng Technology and Media Co, as a content farm creating fake news promoting Chaebol.
On Wednesday, Huang said at the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee that the state-run Central News Agency (CNA) had run an article on March 28 last year promoting Chaebol and the NFTs it was selling.
Huang called for an investigation on why the CNA uploaded such an article and if it had been deceived.
In response, Minister of Culture Li Yuan (李遠) said his ministry would look into the issue.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
IDENTITY SHIFT: Asked to choose to identify as either Taiwanese or Chinese, 83.3 percent of respondents chose Taiwanese, while 8.4 percent chose Chinese An overwhelming majority of Taiwanese, 71.5 percent, think that Taiwan should compete in international competitions under the name “Taiwan,” a Taiwan Brain Trust survey published yesterday showed. Referring to Taiwan’s victory last month at the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12, the survey results showed that 89.1 percent of respondents said that Taiwan’s exceptional performance in sporting competitions furthers national unity. Only 18.8 percent of respondents supported Taiwanese teams’ continued use of the name “Chinese Taipei” in international sporting competitions, the survey showed. Among Taiwan’s leading political parties, the name “Team Taiwan” was supported by 91.1 percent of self-identified Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters,
RSS