Wei Wang thought authorities wouldn’t notice the millions of dollars of cash being deposited into dozens of bank accounts through $10,000 instalments in a money laundering scheme.
“Well they were wrong about that,” said crown prosecutor Michael Wilson at Wang’s County Court hearing in Melbourne today.
The 35-year-old has pleaded guilty to four charges of dealing with money that is reasonably suspected to be from the proceeds of crime totalling more than $33 million.
READ MORE: PM cops heat from own party over $4.3m property buy
He operated a money remittance business where customers gave him cash that he received into numerous bank accounts he held under different names.
Each deposit was made in $10,000 transactions or less to avoid banking legal reporting requirements.
Wang gave his “money runner” Tao Zhu the cash to deposit at hundreds of ATMs, then he transferred the funds to his clients’ overseas bank accounts in exchange for a commission.
His involvement in the operation began in December 2020 and for six weeks he made about 988 transactions into six accounts, worth more than $3 million.
From February 2021 to October 2021, about 1635 bank deposits were made into 38 different accounts worth more than $12.7 million.
Wang also operated a cryptocurrency remittance operation on the side from April 2021 where more than $16.9 million was laundered through his Binance crypto account.
The Chinese national was arrested in October 2021 when officers found $100,000 cash in a bag in his Blackburn home and another $117,000 in a Gucci box in his car among several mobile phones and bank cards.
READ MORE: Neighbour horrified by camera pointed into their yard
His co-offenders Boliang Liu, another remittance operator, and Zhou were jailed in August after admitting to dealing with suspected proceeds of crime worth millions of dollars between July 2020 and October 2021.
Wang, who lives in Australia on a permanent residency visa, appeared in court on Wednesday when his barrister Leonard Hartnett urged Judge Michael Cahill for a lenient sentence.
He said a psychologist report suggested Wang’s behaviour was out of character, driven by financial problems and the lure of not insignificant funds from the operation.
Wang has already spent 70 days in pre-sentence detention during the latter part of the COVID-19 pandemic and has been suffering a “degree of depression” with the weight of prison hanging over him.
“That time was significantly onerous and involved multiple lockdowns,” Hartnett said.
READ MORE: Common contraception linked to increased breast cancer risk
He said his client has no criminal history and since being release on bail, has not reoffended, pointing to his “excellent” prospect of rehabilitation.
Wang demonstrated his remorse with his guilty plea and has made donations to charity since his release on bail.
“It was his idea to make these modest, but significant for him, donations to charity. It says something about him,” the defence said.
Wilson said there was a very real prospect of Wang being deported and asked Judge Cahill to impose a minimum three-year jail term.
Wang will be sentenced on November 1.
links to content on ABC
9News
