Chinese-Australian money-laundering ring busted in Sydney, assets worth more than US$106 million seized
- Police said the Sydney-based group ‘acted like an underground bank and had branches all around the world’
- Authorities also charged nine members of the organisation and confiscated items including cryptocurrency, watches and jewellery
Australian authorities said they dismantled a Chinese-Australian money-laundering syndicate and seized assets worth more than A$150 million (US$106 million) in one of the country’s biggest operations of its kind.
Australian Federal Police charged nine members of the organisation including its Sydney-based leader, it said in a statement on Thursday.
According to the AFP, the group moved illicit funds around the world, helping several international criminal gangs launder money. The items seized included cryptocurrency, as well as watches, handbags, jewellery and firearms.
More than 20 homes in Sydney, including two in the city’s eastern suburbs worth more than A$19 million combined, and a A$47 million tract of land near the future second airport were also seized.
“The Sydney-based group acted like an underground bank and had branches all around the world,” AFP Assistant Commissioner Kirsty Schofield said at a media briefing.