{"id":777036400,"date":"2026-01-05T08:28:49","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T11:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777036400"},"modified":"2026-04-21T15:44:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T18:44:16","slug":"taiwan-indicts-35-in-us975m-online-gambling-money-laundering-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/taiwan-indicts-35-in-us975m-online-gambling-money-laundering-case","title":{"rendered":"Taiwan indicts 35 in US$975m online gambling money laundering case"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Prosecutors say illegal gambling sites across East Asia used custom-built payment platforms to channel illicit funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Taiwan.- Prosecutors have indicted 35 people for allegedly laundering more than NT$30.6bn (US$975m) in illegal online gambling proceeds through payment platforms linked to unlicensed gambling. According to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, the alleged ringleader is a 41-year-old man surnamed Lo<\/strong>, who operated a Hong Kong-style diner in Taipei. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors have charged Lo with money laundering, organised crime and illegal online gambling, and are seeking a prison sentence of nine years and six months. Investigators said Lo began building the scheme in 2020 after acquiring the source code for a payment platform, later branded as HeroPay and MatchPay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These platforms allegedly acted as intermediaries, routing player deposits to offshore gambling sites rather than allowing direct transactions between players and operators, a structure designed to obscure the origin and destination of funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities allege that the operation expanded in mid-2022 with the launch of an online gambling site, Rich 11, offering baccarat, slots, and sports betting, with HeroPay serving as the primary payment channel. Between July 2021 and September 2025, prosecutors estimate the group processed nearly NT$30.6bn through its own gambling operations and payment services provided to other illegal platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case also implicates a woman surnamed Huang, accused of handling financial and administrative operations, as well as dozens of additional suspects charged under Taiwan\u2019s Organised Crime Prevention Act and Money Laundering Control Act. Prosecutors are seeking sentences of more than six years for Huang and the confiscation of all illicit proceeds.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Taiwan seizes US$145m linked to Cambodia\u2019s Prince Group amid online gambling and fraud probe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prosecutors say illegal gambling sites across East Asia used custom-built payment platforms to channel illicit funds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"featured_media":777033411,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Prosecutors in Taiwan have indicted 35 individuals for allegedly laundering over NT$30.6bn (US$975m) in illicit online gambling proceeds through proprietary payment platforms, HeroPay and MatchPay. The operation, led by a man surnamed Lo, facilitated transactions for offshore gambling sites and later launched its own illegal platform, Rich 11, highlighting significant regulatory and AML compliance failures within the region's grey market.","focusai_entities":"Lo, Huang, HeroPay, MatchPay, Rich 11, Taipei District Prosecutors\u2019 Office, Prince Group","focusai_location":"Taiwan, Taipei, Hong Kong, East Asia, Cambodia","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.8), tech_data (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Regulatory Gaps?","query":"What specific regulatory and enforcement gaps in Taiwan and East Asia allowed an operation of this scale, involving custom payment platforms and offshore gambling sites, to process nearly US$1 billion in illicit funds over several years?"},{"label":"Payment Processor Due Diligence?","query":"How can legitimate payment processors and financial institutions enhance their due diligence and transaction monitoring protocols to identify and prevent the integration of services with illicit gambling platforms like HeroPay and MatchPay?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16338,439],"tags":[24634,24764,1811],"class_list":["post-777036400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia-news","category-legal-news","tag-illegal-online-gambling","tag-money-laundering","tag-taiwan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777036400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/680"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777036400"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777036400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777036410,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777036400\/revisions\/777036410"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777033411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777036400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777036400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777036400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}