By
Bhushan Akolkar
April 30th, 2024
Recent reports disclosed that a Taiwanese court has ruled for the seizure of the defendant’s property.
Taiwanese authorities have indicted David Pan, the founder of Taiwan’s digital assets trading platform ACE Exchange, for his alleged involvement in a crypto-related fraud case. The defendant, along with six other suspects, is currently facing charges of money laundering and other crimes stemming from losses of 340 million New Taiwan dollars valued at around $10.6 million.
According to an official statement released earlier this week, prospectors issued the indictment on April 8 following the arrest of Pan in January 2024.
ACE Exchange Founder Indicted for Crimes
The ACE founder was arrested along with 14 others during a raid conducted by Taipei City police at several locations in the country, including ACE’s headquarters.
Before the raid, police discovered that Pan and his co-conspirators developed a digital asset wallet known as “Alfred” or “Afu wallet”, along with a related crypto card for the sole purpose of defrauding investors.
The Taiwanese police found during the investigation that the group also offered a service based on a classic high-reward promise model through offline over-the-counter exchanges and fake investment groups.
Through these fake investment opportunities, Pan and his team successfully committed crimes, violating the country’s money laundering rules. Police said the group defrauded at least 162 individuals who fell for the scheme.
The investors discovered they had been scammed when the platform failed to honor their withdrawal requests. According to the police, the investors were also locked out of their accounts, making them helpless as they watched their assets vanish.
Recent reports disclosed that a Taiwanese court has ruled for the seizure of the defendant’s property. The court also confiscated some of the defendant’s assets, totaling at least 3.5 million New Taiwan dollars (approximately $110,000).
ACE Detaches Itself from Indicted Founder
In response to the indictment, ACE issued a statement on April 8, asserting that Pan’s fraudulent activities were unrelated to the platform. According to the statement, the Taiwanese crypto trading platform said that Pan ceased involvement in its day-to-day operations in 2022.
It further stated that it has no connection with the fraudulent wallet service as the wallet was either developed or endorsed by ACE.
Despite the legal challenges surrounding its founder, the company also reassured its users that its trading and operational activities were unaffected.
Furthermore, ACE reiterated its commitment to ensuring the security of user assets and the smooth operation of deposit and withdrawal services for all cryptocurrencies and the New Taiwan dollars.
The exchange was introduced into the Taiwanese crypto market in 201. The platform reportedly handles around $14 million in daily trading activities. Despite its detachment from the founder, Traders Union has classified the platform as a “high-risk cryptocurrency exchange” with a trust score of 2.78 out of 10.