A U.S. man has pled guilty to laundering almost US$100 million that was generated by an oil and gas investment scheme.
In a U.S. district court in Seattle, Geoffrey Auyeung pled guilty to money laundering conspiracy for his role in a massive scheme that involved purported oil and gas investments.
According to U.S. authorities, the scheme promised to generate profits by acquiring, and renting out, oil and gas storage capacity — however, investors’ money was actually diverted offshore, or converted into cryptoassets, including Bitcoin, Tether, USD Coin, and Ether, and laundered through various crypto exchanges.
According to the plea agreement, Auyeung admitted to setting up nine different entities to accept money from investors who thought they were investing in the oil and gas industry; opening at least 81 bank accounts at 24 different financial institutions; and, 19 accounts on eight different crypto exchanges — that took in US$97.1 million in wire transfers and other third-party deposits, between June 2022 and August 2024.
He also admitted to receiving more than US$4 million in commissions from the scheme, and to misleading banks and other financial institutions about the source of the funds.
As part of the plea agreement, Auyeung agreed to pay US$24.7 million in restitution. He also forfeited approximately US$2.3 million in cash and other assets, and agreed not to contest the civil forfeiture of US$7.1 million that was seized from various crypto wallets.
He’s scheduled to be sentenced on May 12. As part of the plea deal, U.S. prosecutors will recommend 63 months in prison.