Bybit employee sentenced to 10 years in prison for stealing $5,700,000

A former Wechain Fintech employee who processed payroll for Bybit has been sentenced to nine years and 11 months in prison for stealing $5.7 million, mostly in cryptocurrency, The Straits Times reports.

Between May 31 and August 31, 2022, the woman made fake entries in Excel files, adding fictitious payments supposedly due to employees of the crypto platform. These amounts were transferred to Kai Xin's personal wallets and then converted into fiat.

In four months, she withdrew more than 4.2 million USDT. After several episodes of fraud totaling $5.7 million, Kai Xin laundered over $4.3 million.

In February 2023, a Wechain representative reported the violations to the police. Kai Xin was arrested two months later.

She later tried to deceive investigators by claiming that the money was transferred by a cousin whose identity turned out to be fictitious.

Police seized over $330,000 worth of property from the woman, including a Mercedes-Benz. Bybit also managed to recover over 1.1 million USDT from e-wallets and ~$140,000 from one of Kai Xin's bank accounts.

Prosecutors said she used the ill-gotten gains to live a lavish lifestyle, including putting a down payment of nearly $750,000 on a penthouse worth more than $3.7 million. She also bought sunglasses, bags, shoes, shirts and rings from luxury brand Louis Vuitton, Deputy Crown Attorney Jeremy Bean told the court.

A civil court ordered the woman to stop using her ill-gotten gains. However, she still spent nearly $840,000 on numerous luxury items. On January 27, Kai Xin was sentenced to six weeks in prison for violating the order.

On February 20, the woman pleaded guilty to fraud, benefiting from criminal activity and making false statements to a public servant. Thirty other charges were considered at sentencing.

Источник: cryptocurrency.tech