There has been new progress in the sensational case of JPEX, a virtual asset trading platform.

According to the Hong Kong Economic Times, the Hong Kong police recently arrested four more people involved in the case, two of whom were arrested in Macau. The two men arrested in Macau were suspected of opening accounts in Macau casinos to launder money in the JPEX case. During the arrest operation, the Macau Judiciary Police intercepted and froze more than 14 million Hong Kong dollars in funds involved in the case.

It is reported that the JPEX case is the case with the most victims so far. The Hong Kong police have received reports from 2,417 people and the amount of losses exceeds HK$1.5 billion.

Four more people arrested in Hong Kong and Macau in JPEX case, involving over 1.5 billion

In the case of the unlicensed virtual asset trading platform JPEX, more and more celebrities and KOLs are involved, and the number of JPEX victims is also increasing. According to the Hong Kong Economic Journal, the Hong Kong Police and the Macau Judiciary Police recently launched a new round of search operations in the two places, arrested another 4 people, and seized and frozen assets worth HK$24 million in the two places, of which more than HK$14 million was frozen in Macau.

According to the Hong Kong police at a press conference, these arrested persons were the "core figures" in the JPEX fraud case. In the residence of one of the arrested persons, the police found a large number of documents that had been shreddered, burned, and bleached, piled up in the bathtub, and a large amount of RMB cash was also found.

The police also said that they have identified a group of people involved in the case, but some of them have already left Hong Kong. So far, 2,417 people have reported the case, involving losses of more than HK$1.5 billion. The police will use all resources to investigate, including mobilizing personnel from various criminal departments and using the "Major Incident Investigation and Disaster Support System", commonly known as a supercomputer, to assist in the investigation. They will also seek cooperation from international police and overseas virtual asset trading platforms to intercept fraudulent funds from both physical banks and online.

According to statistics from Techub News, as many as 15 celebrities and KOLs were involved in the JPEX case, including Lin Zuo, YouTuber Chen Yi, Xiao Ruoyuan, Zhong Peisheng, Zhang Zhilin, Zhuang Simin, Fei Ma, "Coin Master" Huang Zhengjie, etc. Taiwanese artist Chen Lingjiu was also involved.

Before being arrested, Lin Zuo had posted a statement saying that he would cooperate with all requirements of the regulatory authorities, and personally went to the police station to provide relevant information about the case and distance himself from JPEX. "My business is not related to the exchange, and I can't really find the person in charge of the platform."

Another KOL who was arrested, Chen Yi, was very dissatisfied with the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission's warning to JPEX. She posted a video on social media criticizing the Hong Kong government for suppressing JPEX. She claimed: "It's a pity that the government has not enacted a fake news law, otherwise we would see all the staff of the Securities and Futures Commission go to jail together."

On the evening of September 21, Julian Cheung published a statement from his agency on Weibo in response to being involved in the Hong Kong "cryptocurrency circle" scam.

Zhang Zhilin forwarded the company's statement as follows:

Our company is the management company of artist Mr. Julian Cheung ("Artist"), and in response to recent reports that the Artist was involved in the virtual asset trading platform JPEX, our company now makes a clarification statement regarding the relevant reports:

1. In March 2022, the company invited artists through an advertising agency to shoot commercials and print stills for JPEX.

Subsequently, as the Company learned that JPEX was included in the "List of Unlicensed Companies and Suspicious Websites" by the Securities and Futures Commission, the Company officially notified the advertising agency in September 2022 to terminate the cooperation agreement immediately.

Pursuant to the agreement, no person may use/publicly release the advertising films, flat photos, shooting highlights and any related materials containing the artist's portrait and/or voice produced during the cooperation period without the approval and authorization of the Company.

2. Recently, our company discovered that the aforementioned artist photos and images that have not been authorized by our company are circulating online. Our company now solemnly requests that no one shall make any infringing acts such as publishing, uploading or reprinting without authorization. Our company will reserve all legal rights to pursue this matter.

3. Regarding the JPEX incident, the artist was invited by the relevant parties to assist in the investigation on September 19 and has provided the necessary assistance. (For more details, please click: "Involved in a 1 billion fraud case? Well-known male star responded! The platform involved in the case was blocked, and the 34-year-old Internet celebrity was arrested")

Regarding the JPEX incident, Hong Kong Legislative Council member Wu Jiezhuang posted on social media that this was the behavior of individual unlicensed exchanges and did not represent the entire industry. It is precisely because Hong Kong must vigorously promote Web3.0 policies to achieve a balance between regulation and innovation that bad money cannot drive out good money.

Liang Fengyi: The incident will not change Hong Kong's development of Web3.0 ecology

On September 29, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission released several lists of virtual asset trading platforms to ensure that information on virtual asset trading platforms can be released to investors in a clear, transparent and timely manner.

These lists include the list of licensed virtual asset trading platforms, the list of virtual asset trading platform applicants, the list of closed virtual asset trading platforms, and the list of virtual asset trading platforms that are deemed to be licensed.

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission specifically reminds investors that all entities on the list of applicants for virtual asset trading platforms have not been licensed by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission and may not comply with the requirements of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. The main purpose of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission to publish this list is to facilitate the public to judge whether the virtual asset trading platform has made misrepresentations in its license application.

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission also reminded virtual asset platforms that plan to apply for licenses from it to submit complete applications and other required materials and documents, including external evaluation reports. Applications that fail to meet the standards will be returned by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission.

Fung Yee Leung, CEO of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, said that the JPEX case fully reflects the importance of supervision and stressed that the direction of Hong Kong's development of the Web3 ecosystem will not change. Virtual asset trading is an important part of the Web3 ecosystem, and the basic technologies used in digital finance and virtual asset activities can bring benefits to the financial market.

Liang Fengyi also pointed out that without a regulatory system, investors would have no way to identify which platform is safer and more reliable. She reiterated that the original intention of establishing the new system was to provide a regulated channel so that investors would know that when purchasing assets through this channel, the assets would be isolated and there would not be the problem of "where is the person in charge and where is the money stored" as in this incident.