Seven members of a Chinese money laundering gang have been sentenced for running a sophisticated £55 million laundering operation from Hackney, London. The group was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court over two separate hearings, receiving a total of 24 years and 11 months in prison for their involvement in the criminal enterprise.

Sentencing Details

On Monday, 19 August, four individuals were sentenced for a range of money laundering offences:

• Qiji Wang, 29, from Manchester, received the heaviest sentence of 12 years’ imprisonment for conspiracy to money launder and for operating an unregistered money service business.
• Xiaoyu Shu, 29, from Canary Wharf, was sentenced to three years and eight months for conspiracy to money launder, operating an unregistered currency exchange, and possession of criminal property.
• Yunchen Huang, 28, also from Canary Wharf, was sentenced to three years and four months for conspiracy to money launder, operating an unregistered currency exchange, and possession of criminal property.
• Ruolan Chen, 28, from Manchester, received two years’ imprisonment for operating an unregistered money service business.

Earlier, on Friday, 14 June, three other members of the gang were sentenced:

• Peng Liu, 28, from Canary Wharf, was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment for acquiring and possessing criminal property.
• Ang Li, 26, from Canary Wharf, received an 18-month sentence for operating an unregistered money service business and possession of criminal property.
• Yin Ying Wang, 28, from Canary Wharf, was sentenced to 11 months’ imprisonment for possession of criminal property.

Operation Details

The gang was involved in a large-scale money laundering scheme that handled vast amounts of cash, transferring illicit funds through a network of unregistered money service businesses and currency exchanges. Their operations, which spanned multiple locations including Manchester and Canary Wharf, were brought to a halt following an extensive investigation by law enforcement agencies.

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