“Mr. Auyeung facilitated a fraud, developed by others, that stole investor money while lulling them with promises of a legitimate escrow account,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd in a statement.
“And even after he was indicted and arrested, Auyeung spent 16 months secretly still communicating with his co-conspirators and continuing to get his illicit fees by having the money go to his wife’s bank accounts,” Floyd added. “He showed utter disrespect for the law.”
Eventually, most of the crypto tokens were transferred to leading crypto exchange Binance, and victims received no further communication from Auyeung.
During the two-year period from June 2022 to July 2024, Auyeung’s accounts received $97.1 million in wire transfers and other deposits, all of which the government believes were fraud proceeds.
He earned at least $4 million in commission payments from co-conspirators for his role and is forfeiting more than $2.3 million seized from bank accounts at the time of his arrest, along with a car and $7.1 million seized from crypto wallets.
