Australian police charge 7 with laundering millions for Chinese crime syndicate

Australian authorities have charged seven people with helping launder hundreds of millions of dollars for a Chinese crime syndicatePolice said Thursday the arrests came after a 14month investigation that involved multiple Australian agencies and the US Department of Homeland SecurityThey said it was the most complex money laundering investigation in the nations historyPolice said a money remittance chain in Australia with a dozen outlets the Changjiang Currency Exchange was being secretly run by the Long River money laundering syndicateThey said the chain legitimately transferred billions of dollars from regular customers but hidden among those transactions were illegal transfers of 229 million Australian dollars USD 144 million in crime proceeds over the past three yearsThey said they became suspicious about the company during COVID19 lockdowns in SydneyWhile most of Sydney was a ghost town alarm bells went off among our money laundering investigators when they noticed Changjiang Currency Exchange opened and updated new and existing shopfronts in the heart of Sydney said Stephen Dametto an assistant commissioner with the Australian Federal PoliceIt was just a gut feeling it didnt feel right Dametto said in a statement Many international students and tourists had returned home and there was no apparent business case for Changjiang Currency Exchange to expandMore than 300 officers on Wednesday conducted 20 raids around the country and seized tens of millions of dollars worth of luxury homes and vehiclesThe four Chinese nationals and three Australian citizens made their first appearance in a Melbourne court on ThursdayAlso read Vandalism outside Gunaratna Sadavartes home Bhoiwada Police book four three heldWe allege they lived the high life by eating at Australias most extravagant restaurants drinking wine and sake valued in the tens of thousands of dollars travelling on private jets driving vehicles purchased for 400000 Australian Dollars and living in expensive homes with one valued at more than 10 million Australian Dollars Dametto saidPolice said the syndicate coached its criminal customers on how to create fake business paperwork such as false invoices and bank statementsThey said some of the laundered money came from cyber scams the trafficking of illicit goods and violent crimesDametto said the syndicate had even purchased fake passports for 200000 Australian Dollars USD 126000 each in case their members needed to flee the countryThe reason why this investigation was so unique and complex was that this alleged syndicate was operating in plain sight with shiny shopfronts across the country it was not operating in the shadows like other money laundering organisations Dametto said in his statementThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever