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Photo = Capture of South China Morning Post homepage |
[Alpha Biz= Reporter Kim Sangjin] A Malaysian national accused of leading a massive cryptocurrency pyramid scheme exceeding 100 billion yuan ($18.7 billion) has been extradited from Thailand to China.
According to the South China Morning Post on the 24th, Thailand extradited Zhang Mou, an international fugitive wanted for fraud, to China on the 20th. This marks the first instance of Thailand returning an economic criminal since the two countries signed an extradition treaty in 1999, according to China's Ministry of Public Security.
Zhang, identified as Zhang Yufa, is known for founding the MBI Group and allegedly defrauding investors into purchasing unauthorized cryptocurrencies through his pyramid scheme since 2012. The scam reportedly involved over 10 million victims, many of whom were Chinese, with the total fraud exceeding 100 billion yuan.
Chongqing authorities began investigating Zhang at the end of 2020, and shortly after, Interpol's China branch issued an international wanted notice. Zhang was arrested by Thai authorities in July 2022, and China requested his extradition to face trial in China.
In May, a Thai court ruled in favor of Zhang's extradition to China. Although Zhang was also wanted for fraud in Malaysia, Malaysia's request for extradition came after China's request.
AlphaBIZ Kim SangJin(letyou@alphabiz.co.kr)
