Hong Kong police recover $11M worth of assets in JPEX case: Report

Hong Kong security chief Chris Tang Ping-keung has vowed to bring justice to people who fell victim to the JPEX crypto exchange fraud, local media has reported. The security chief’s office on Wednesday said that the police are actively looking for the key operators behind the JPEX crypto exchange that orchestrated the country’s largest digital asset fraud.

During a press conference on Sept. 27 Chris Tang revealed that the police have made 12 arrests in the case so far and seized more than $1 million (8 million Hong Kong dollars) in cash, as well as assets worth $9.8 million (77 million HK dollars), including real estate and virtual currency, according to a report  by the South China Morning Post.

Tang added that the police are actively looking for the ringleaders in the case and called their capture a major factor in solving the case.

The operators of the JPEX crypto exchange are accused of running an unauthorized crypto platform and defrauding customers of millions of dollars. Tang also notified the press that they are working with the country’s regulators to put certain measures in place to avoid any such fraud in the future.

The local police in Hong Kong received 2,369 complaints from victims who lost their hard-earned money by investing in the unregulated exchange. The total monetary value of the fallout is estimated to be around $178 million (1.4 billion Hong Kong dollars).

The police have made 12 arrests in the case including three employees of the JPEX Technical Support Company, along with two YouTubers, Chan Wing-yee and Chu Ka-fa.

Related: Hong Kong securities regulator issues in-principle approval to HKVAX

The first signs of trouble related to JPEX emerged on Sept. 15 when several users complained about facing difficulty in withdrawing funds. As the news about withdrawal issues gained traction, the platform notoriously raised its withdrawal fees to 999 Tether after a warning from the regulators in order to deter users from withdrawing funds.

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