Chinese Court Sentences Sifang Operators Over $428M Gambling Network

The Intermediate People’s Court of Xilin Gol League in Inner Mongolia finalized the convictions on June 26, rejecting an appeal from a defendant identified as Ma. His four-and-a-half-year sentence and 3 million yuan fine remain in effect. Prosecutors established that the group acted as a fourth-party payment aggregator, bridging overseas gambling sites with domestic merchant accounts. Between May 2022 and October 2023, the syndicate utilized 105 merchant accounts across 10 third-party companies to obscure the origin of funds.

Investigators successfully traced the illicit flows by securing wallet addresses from Tether and transaction logs from the OKX exchange. While the defendants collected a 1.45% commission on transfers, the court focused its sentencing on specific, verifiable illegal proceeds. For instance, records linked to Zhang showed 4.146 million USDT in deposits, while Ma’s involvement was tied to 719,176 USDT. The case underscores the growing reliance on blockchain forensics in Chinese courts, even as legal scholars continue to debate the consistency of evidence collection standards under current anti-money laundering laws.