In January 2023, Zhou Zhuohua, the former chairman of Suncity Group, nicknamed "Xi Mihua", was convicted of a total of 162 counts of founding and leading a criminal group and illegally operating gambling, and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. A number of key members of his syndicate were also sentenced in the Mainland earlier.
According to CCTV News disclosed on January 8, the Intermediate People's Court of Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, revealed in the trial of the case of key members of the group that Zhou Zhuohua established a person abroad since 2015 to open an online gambling platform in the Philippines and other places, luring others to serve as ** with commissions and dividends, and soliciting Chinese citizens to participate in cross-border online gambling, from 2015 to 2019, the betting amount of domestic gamblers was as high as 300 billion yuan, and more than 8.7 billion yuan of gambling money was won in China.
CCTV reported that in August 2022, the Intermediate People's Court of Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, tried three cases involving 34 key members of Zhou Zhuohua's cross-border gambling criminal group. The trial of the case provided substantial evidence for the arrest and trial of Zhou Zhuohua and others in Macao, and also directly promoted the addition of the crime of organizing and participating in gambling outside the country (territory) in the Amendment (11) of the Criminal Law.
Judge Wang Haoze said that Zhou Zhuohua established a one-person gaming intermediary company outside the country, and the company has a number of departments such as a finance department, an accounting department, an IT department, and a customer service department, and the defendant Zhang Ningning is the person in charge of the asset management company established by Zhou Zhuohua in China, and his position is the director of the asset management department.
The Philippines open***please**solicit gamblers
After trial, the court found that since 2007, Zhou Zhuohua, a shareholder and director of the Macau Suncity gaming intermediary, has contracted gambling halls in casinos in Macau and other places, and has opened a number of online gambling platforms in the Philippines and other places since 2015 to conduct gambling activities. Zhou Zhuohua made huge profits, using commissions and dividends as bait to lure others to serve as **, and organized and solicited Chinese citizens to participate in gambling or cross-border online gambling in Sun City gambling halls in China.
On November 27, 2021, the Macao police arrested a total of 11 people, including Zhou Zhuohua. **Xinhua.
Use of underground banks to avoid supervision
Zhou Zhuohua has set requirements for domestic gambling**, each ** if he invests in Suncity Company, the investment capital is 5 million Hong Kong dollars, and the monthly conversion volume index is 50 million Hong Kong dollars, and Zhou Zhuohua is accused of recruiting 283 Chinese shareholders**. From 2015 to 2019, according to the corresponding electronic data seized in China, the amount of bets by domestic gamblers exceeded 300 billion yuan, and the amount of gambling funds won in China exceeded 8.7 billion yuan.
Source: CCTV news client.
The court pointed out that the criminal group set up a company in China to provide ** and gamblers with assets in exchange for gambling credit, chips and other services, and to recover gambling debts;In order to evade supervision and crackdown, illegal channels such as underground banks will be used to receive and settle gambling funds. Criminal syndicates also set up or provide technical support or services such as gambler management, vehicle transportation, publicity and promotion through companies in China, so as to make criminal activities more hidden.
Source: CCTV news client.
The court ruled that the cross-border gambling criminal group also violated national regulations, fabricated transaction agreements, and repeatedly made cross-border payment of funds, with a total amount of more than 11600 million yuan, illegal profits of more than 17 million yuan, seriously disrupting the order of the national financial market.
The defendant is sentenced to a maximum sentence of seven and a half years
On September 30, 2022, the Wenzhou Intermediate People's Court found in the first instance that Zhang Ningning and Peng Hao were instructed to receive gambling funds and debts in China and operate and manage themDefendant Zhong Zexin and others organized and solicited Chinese citizens to gamble abroad and participate in cross-border online gamblingDefendant Yu Huijun et al. clearly knew that others had committed the crime of opening a casino, but still provided assistance, all of which constituted the crime of opening a casino. Zhang Ningning also illegally bought and sold foreign exchange, constituting the crime of illegal business operation.
In light of the specific circumstances of each defendant, a sentence of fixed-term imprisonment ranging from 7 years and 6 months to 1 year and 3 months is to be given in accordance with law, and a concurrent fine;Recover property, gambling funds, unlawful gains, proceeds, and fruits used in the crime.
After the verdict was announced, the defendants Zhang Ningning, Zhong Zexin, and Pang Kexun appealed, and the Zhejiang Provincial High Court ruled in the second instance to reject the appeal and uphold the original judgment.
* CCTV news client.
Editor: Wu Yiyi, Editor: Zhu Feng, Reviewer: Sun Shijian.
Producer: Yu Xue.
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