Taiwan’s major cryptocurrency exchange, ACE, and its key figures have been accused of making false claims about speculative token listings to defraud investors.
Local city police conducted multiple raids, leading to the arrest of ACE founder David Pan and co-conspirator Lin Nan. Additionally, 14 more employees from 15 locations across various cities were apprehended.
According to a local news report, the New Taipei City Criminal Police Brigade investigated the fraud and confiscated cryptocurrency assets valued at a minimum of NT$200 million ($6.4 million).
ACE Fraud Scheme
According to the allegations, David Pan, Lin Nan, and their team utilized social media platforms to promote deceptive offerings related to “worthless” cryptocurrencies, including MOCT.
“The police said that Lin Nan and Pan Nan cooperated and used fake advertisements to deceive more than 100 investors into investing in worthless virtual currencies in the past three years,” the report stated.
The fraudsters reportedly generated a fear of missing out (FOMO) around these speculative assets, enticing investors with promises of quick riches. ACE exchange allegedly asserted that digital assets represent the latest technology and boasted about the extremely bullish future of some cryptocurrencies.
The remuneration offered was set at a high level, and the operation was orchestrated by a professional team, as indicated in the report.
The police have filed cases under the Criminal Law, the Money Laundering Prevention Act, and the Banking Act. Despite this, Lin and Pan did not cooperate with the police during the inquiry and denied the charges against them.
ACE’s website has responded to the allegations and media reports, asserting that none of its employees were involved in the case.
“ACE employees are fully cooperating with the prosecutor’s investigation as witnesses. Some media reported that our company’s employees were involved in the case, which is not true,” stated Wang Chenhuan, President of ACE Exchange.
Delisting MOCT/TWD Trading Pair
In a recent update on Friday, ACE announced the delisting of the MOCT/TWD trading pair, effective starting Monday. The exchange assured users that all pending orders would be automatically removed following the delisting.
ACE emphasized that, “Regarding disputes and violations involving specific project parties, ACE has fully cooperated with the investigation and has not had any impact on ACE’s operations.”
The exchange confirmed that media reports about ACE were related to the fact that some currencies listed in 2019 were involved in illegal activities.
