Globalization is going backward, the climate is turning right, and even powers like the UK and the US can’t help but start the “deep-sea fishing” model.
Recently, the UK’s National Crime Agency seized assets worth approximately £12.4 million (approximately 116 million yuan) from Chinese businessman Su Binghai and his company, Su Empire Limited.
At the same time, they also seized his 9 London apartments (worth 130 million yuan), 11 Chinese antique artworks, and £343,000 in rental income.
Adding it all up, it’s probably 255 million yuan.
The reason for the seizure is:
Su Binghai is suspected of being involved in the largest money laundering case in Singapore in 2023, with assets involved exceeding $2.5 billion.
His money laundering method was to sell antiques for cash. These antiques were three dinosaur skeletons:
A pair of Allosaurus parents and a Brachiosaurus, dating back about 150 million years.
On August 15, 2023, Singapore police launched a raid. Su Binghai narrowly escaped that day, fleeing through Malaysia and eventually to London, UK.
In October 2024, Su Binghai and his wife handed over assets worth over £240 million (including luxury cars) to the Singapore authorities and were banned from entering Singapore.
A Chinese “entrepreneur” commits a crime in Singapore, what does it have to do with the UK?
But the UK really got involved, because Su Binghai lives in the UK. If they don’t arrest him, how can they show their determination to “crack down on cross-border money laundering”?
So they seized Su Binghai’s assets under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
This law is quite “clever”, and the cleverness lies in allowing UK law enforcement agencies to directly recover property reasonably determined to be illegally obtained without criminal conviction.
As long as Su Binghai cannot reasonably explain the legal source of his assets in the UK, the UK authorities have the right to seize them.
Deep-sea fishing, near-shore fishing, both people and wealth are gained, isn’t that enjoyable?
Like Chen Zhi, who was recently wanted by the US, Su Binghai is also from Fujian. He was born in Anxi, Fujian. In addition to Chinese citizenship, he also holds passports from Cambodia, Vanuatu, and St. Kitts.
Having so many aliases is naturally convenient for doing improper business.
The huge funds accumulated by Su Binghai mainly come from telecom network fraud and illegal online gambling and other criminal activities.
He registered six shell companies in Singapore for fund transfers, held assets in the UK under the name “Su Empire Limited”, and registered “Hangzhou Yuegao Catering Service Co., Ltd.” in Hangzhou, China, but only 16 people were insured, and the scale is very small.
To put it bluntly, like Chen Zhi, they are all swindling money from Chinese people to enjoy/seek refuge abroad.
In fact, for the vast number of victims in China, they have been waiting for the police to be able to wipe out these people and bring them back from overseas, and make them spit out their money.
But for such a piece of fat, the UK and the US are now also eyeing it covetously.
The US’s tactic is to expand its jurisdiction with the “minimum contact principle”. As long as the criminal act involves US citizens, US dollar settlements, or US servers, an investigation can be launched.
For example, in the case of the Prince Group in Cambodia, just because some of the victims came from the United States, the US Department of Justice directly froze and seized 127,000 Bitcoins (worth $15 billion) from the main offender, Chen Zhi.
The UK’s seizure of Su Binghai is based on the Proceeds of Crime Act, which allows for the seizure of assets alleged to be the proceeds of crime without criminal conviction, and is directly enforced on the grounds that the source of his assets cannot be legally explained.
Doesn’t this look like a law enforcement team from Sichuan going to Guangdong to find “entrepreneurs”?
And their “deep-sea fishing” has also led to a large number of victimized Chinese people finding it difficult to recover their losses.
As for now, I am more worried that they will expand the fishing targets from telecom fraud to those corrupt officials who have fled overseas and some descendants who are unclear.
According to the “civil forfeiture” procedure used by the UK, as long as the legal source of their assets in the UK cannot be reasonably explained, the UK authorities have the right to seize them.
If they really fish like this, won’t the people’s wealth from China become the bullets of the powers and the welfare of the homeless?
Will Sima Nan, Zhou Xiaoping, and those patriotic performance artists who have assets overseas not be anxious to jump up?
After so many years of anti-telecom fraud, they are installing APPs, real-name authentication, and being stopped at the bank to ask about the purpose of the money, how can they still receive telecom fraud text messages and phone calls?
Criminals, if you don’t crack down on them, others will crack down on them for you.
Hurry up and investigate, so many big fish have been fattened, and in the end, they become the meal of the Western powers, it’s too humiliating!
– The End –
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