SEATTLE — A 47-year-old Newcastle, Washington, man pleaded guilty in U.S. District Courtroom in Seattle to conspiracy to commit cash laundering for his position in transferring practically $100 million in proceeds from an funding fraud scheme, federal prosecutors mentioned.
Geoffrey Okay. Auyeung admitted that he accepted fraud proceeds and forwarded the funds to coconspirators’ financial institution accounts and cryptocurrency addresses, in accordance to an announcement by First Assistant U.S. Lawyer Charles Neil Floyd.
Auyeung was arrested on a felony grievance on Aug. 12, 2024, and was indicted by a federal grand jury later that month.
In accordance to the plea settlement, from a minimum of August 2022 by way of August 2024, coconspirators persuaded victims to ship cash to what have been described as escrow accounts to buy oil tank storage in Rotterdam, Netherlands, or Houston.
Traders have been instructed they may earn vital income by renting the storage tanks to others.
As an alternative, as soon as the funds reached accounts managed by Auyeung, the cash was rapidly transferred to different accounts, despatched offshore, or transformed into cryptocurrency.
FILE- Picture of a crypto ARM machine. (7News)
The transactions have been performed by way of exchanges together with Gemini, BitStamp, and Coinbase, with a lot of the cryptocurrency later transferred to accounts at Binance managed by people situated in Nigeria and Russia, prosecutors mentioned.
Victims acquired no additional details about their investments, and Auyeung and others stopped responding to them, in accordance to court docket paperwork.
Auyeung admitted that he arrange 9 entities to settle for investor funds:
- Sea Forest Worldwide LLC
- Apex Oil and Fuel Buying and selling LLC
- Navigator Vitality Logistics LLC
- Terminal Vitality Worldwide Escrow Service LLC
- Energo Horizons Logistics (EA) LLC
- Legacy Vitality Logistics Transport Group LLC
- Inexperienced Tree Gateway LLC
- Dragon Timbers Worldwide LLC
- ANS & Companions Worldwide Restricted.
He opened a minimum of 81 financial institution accounts at 24 monetary establishments and 19 accounts on eight cryptocurrency exchanges, prosecutors mentioned.
Between June 2022 and July 2024, these accounts acquired $97.1 million in home and worldwide third-party wire transfers and different deposits.
Regulation enforcement traced deposits linked to about 35 folks or entities, together with $24.7 million from recognized victims.
Prosecutors imagine the remaining deposits additionally symbolize fraud proceeds.
As he grew to become extra conscious of the fraud, Auyeung demanded greater commissions from his coconspirators and admitted receiving a minimum of $4,078,348 in fee funds.
He additionally admitted deceptive banks and different monetary establishments concerning the supply of the funds and his involvement when fraud complaints arose.
FILE – The Binance app icon is seen on a smartphone, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Marple Township, Pa. (AP Photograph/Matt Slocum, File)
Even after his indictment, Auyeung continued speaking with coconspirators and victims, in accordance to prosecutors.
Between August 2024 and December 2025, he accepted an further $400,000 in commissions by funneling deposits by way of financial institution accounts in his spouse’s identify.
Beneath the plea settlement, Auyeung agreed to pay $24,707,031 in restitution.
He’s forfeiting about $2.3 million in funds and money seized from his financial institution accounts and house on the time of his arrest, in addition to an Audi SQ8.
He additionally agreed not to contest the civil forfeiture of roughly $7.1 million seized from numerous cryptocurrency wallets and to relinquish about $300,000 at the moment in his financial institution accounts towards restitution.
He’s scheduled to be sentenced in Might.
