SINGAPORE: On Monday, August 26, the mastermind of a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme passed off as cryptocurrency investments was sentenced to six years in prison and fined S$16,000 (US$12,284).
The 61-year-old Dutchman, Yang Bin, acknowledged founding and managing a business that allegedly possessed 300,000 cryptocurrency mining devices capable of producing enough income to provide investors with daily returns of 0.5%.
Yang, who Forbes ranked as the second-richest man in China in 2001, entered a guilty plea to eight counts, including combined counts of conspiring to commit fraud, working without a legitimate work permit, and employing a man without a valid work permit. For his sentencing, a total of eleven additional charges of a similar kind were considered.
Yang arrived in Singapore on a social visit pass and on April 20, 2021, he incorporated A&A Blockchain Innovation. He was the chairman of his company, but he lacked a valid work permit to operate it.
He appointed Wang Xinghong as chief technological officer, Chen Wei as his assistant and director, and Lu Huangbin as CEO of A&A, all of whom are co-accused. Yang was the only person in charge of the company’s finances, and all three of them answered to him.
