Macau issues cryptocurrency crime warning after link to former triad boss emerges
Authority warning reminds residents that virtual currency is not legal tender
Concerns over a Macau cryptocurrency firm backed by a notorious former gangster, and which has links to the company behind the Facebook data-mining scandal, have prompted monetary chiefs in the city to issue a warning over possible “fraud and criminal activities”.Here's Global Mafia News:
In a statement of concern, published on the website of the Monetary Authority of Macau, the regulator reminded residents that cryptocurrencies are not legal tender.
The warning comes in the wake of revelations that Macau Dragon Group, a firm associated with “Broken Tooth” Wan Kuok-koi, employed the British company, Cambridge Analytica, to promote Dragon Coin, a new virtual currency created to help gamblers transfer money to Macau casinos.
Wan is one of Asia’s most infamous organised crime figures, and spent more than 10 years in jail for an array of gangland crimes including being leader of the 14K triad group in Macau....MORE
And back to the SCMP, April 19 for some backstory:
The cryptocurrency linking Cambridge Analytica and Macau’s most notorious gangster
Involvement of data-mining company – being investigated over Facebook privacy breach – piles pressure on monetary chiefs in casino hub, as worries persist over dodgy transactions
Finance chiefs in Hong Kong and Macau were on Wednesday facing fresh pressure to act after it emerged that the firm at the centre of the Facebook data privacy scandal, Cambridge Analytica, worked with a cryptocurrency firm backed by Asia’s most notorious former organised crime boss.
The connection between the British company – widely criticised for abusing the data of tens of millions of Facebook users – and ex-14K triad gang leader “Broken Tooth” Wan Kuok-koi will deepen concerns over a lack of regulation in the burgeoning digital currency business.
Also at the South China Morning Post, Oct. 8, 2017: "A cryptocurrency deal and a triad boss called Broken Tooth – what can possibly go wrong?"In a report published in The New York Times on Tuesday, former Cambridge Analytica employee Brittany Kaiser said the data-mining company retained Dragon Corporation – also known as Macau Dragon Group – as a client and helped publicise its US$500 million initial coin offering (ICO).Kaiser told the newspaper Cambridge Analytica’s involvement with Dragon was linked to a plan to raise money for the creation of a system to help people store their online personal data and sell it to advertisers. ...MORE
Among Wan's other ventures: "Broken Tooth Koi’ offers to provide Belt and Road muscle"
Wan Kuok-koi, a former triad leader in Macau, has said his security group would be a patriotic private organization to protect Belt and Road interests
HT the story was out there and home of the Belt and Road story immediately above, Asia Times:
What do we get when we mix big data, blockchain and casinos?
