A former China Construction Bank (Asia) relationship manager has been sentenced to four years in prison in Hong Kong after accepting more than $470,000 in Tether (USDT) bribes to authenticate false financial documents valued at more than $1.6 billion.
Lam Chun-yin, 32, was sentenced at Hong Kong’s District Court on September 18 after pleading guilty to conspiring with a fintech company employee and other associates to accept bribes. The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said the cryptocurrency payments totaled more than US$470,000, equivalent to about HK$3.7 million. Lam was also ordered to repay approximately HK$3.7 million to CCB Asia.
The scheme took place between April and June 2022 and involved Tether payments made in exchange for authenticating multiple standby letters of credit (SBLCs) that falsely claimed to have been issued by CCB. Two collateral letters were also falsely presented as being issued by Yu Po Holdings and endorsed by CCB. The instruments carried a combined stated value of more than US$1.6 billion.
False CCB Documents Tied to Vesttoo Investment Scheme
Lam worked as a relationship manager in CCB Asia’s consumer banking division at its Causeway Bay retail branch. According to the ICAC, he had no authority to process business credit facilities or letters of credit. He nevertheless presented himself as a CCB contact responsible for issuing SBLCs for Yu Po Holdings, which had become an investor through fintech company Vesttoo in early 2022.
Vesttoo operated a platform for insurance-related investment transactions in which investors were required to provide bank-issued SBLCs as guarantees. The ICAC said Lam worked with a Vesttoo department head and associates to authenticate the false documents.
The case was uncovered through an internal investigation by CCB Asia. The bank then reported the matter to the ICAC and assisted with the investigation. Authorities found that neither CCB nor its sister companies had issued the relevant SBLCs or collateral letters.
The case is linked to the wider collapse of Vesttoo, which sought bankruptcy protection in 2023 after fraudulent collateral documents were discovered. The episode has since led to litigation involving banks, insurers and other participants in the insurance market.
In sentencing, Judge Ernest Lin Kam-hung said the use of forged bank documents exposed CCB to significant potential risk and undermined Hong Kong’s reputation as an international financial center. The judge initially imposed a six-year sentence before reducing it by one-third because of Lam’s guilty plea.
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