A transnational crime syndicate is accused of laundering $228 million in dirty funds and tainted cryptocurrency via a money moving business spruiked by a former Howard government minister and allegedly secretly controlled by Chinese gangsters.
The 14-month AFP operation involves allegations that the Long River crime syndicate moved $228 million in dirty funds between 2020 and 2023. Police have also moved to restrain more than $50 million in luxury assets purchased by some of the seven suspects arrested on Wednesday, including a $10 million property in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
It underscores the challenge facing police as they combat a vast sea of dirty funds smuggled out of China in breach of Beijing’s strict capital flight laws or that have been generated via suspected fraud, corruption or drug trafficking. “It is just out of control. It is a huge international issue and there are overseas state actors involved,” the official said a fortnight ago. “People pretend that this doesn’t impact on the cost of living and housing, but it does. We pick off some players but much more resourcing and legislative change is needed.”
In 2022, it recruited Hardgrave, who had been the immigration minister under prime minister John Howard. In one video the company posted on social media, Hardgrave described Changjiang as a firm with “with watertight security processes in place” that had established “multiple layers of due diligence”.
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