Hong Kong-Based Caspian HK Ltd Charged With Operating Unlicensed Money Transmitting Business: More Than $50 Million Moved Through U.S. Shell Companies in 2024
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced in Brooklyn on October 27 that a federal indictment was unsealed charging Caspian HK Ltd, a Hong Kong-based virtual asset service provider, with operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, alleging it moved more than $50 million in 2024 through a series of international transactions and concealed the source of the funds behind a fictitious Singapore real estate deal.
Prosecutors allege Caspian HK operated outside the U.S. banking and financial system, incorporated shell companies in the United States and used them to open accounts at U.S. financial institutions, processing thousands of illicit transactions and moving more than $50 million, including on- and off-ramping for a virtual asset trading platform. The company allegedly claimed it was purchasing a Singapore commercial property from the estate of the late Singaporean businessman Tan Tiah Nan on behalf of the Sheng Siong supermarket chain, and submitted fraudulent documents to advance a transaction that did not exist; prosecutors said the funds were never used for real estate investment.
"Caspian HK, as alleged, flouted U.S. banking compliance requirements and exploited shell companies and fraudulent financial documents to inject tens of millions of dollars into the U.S. financial system," said U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. FBI New York Assistant Director in Charge Christopher G. Raia said the company deliberately fabricated a real estate transaction to conceal illicit financial activity. IRS Criminal Investigation New York Special Agent in Charge Harry T. Chavis Jr. said working with international partners is key to disrupting complex transnational financial crimes.
The case was investigated by the FBI's New York Field Office and IRS Criminal Investigation's New York Field Office, together with New York law enforcement partners, and is part of Operation Take Back America. Each count carries a maximum of five years in prison. An indictment is merely an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Theodore Roosevelt United States Courthouse (Eastern District of New York), Brooklyn, by Ajay Suresh, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
