UAE: 79 fined up to Dh10 million after being convicted of fraud, money laundering

The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court convicted an organised criminal group that used fake URLs of a Chinese website to defraud victims and launder money.

The criminal enterprise comprised 79 people, including 72 Chinese nationals, one Jordanian, two Nigerians, two Cameroonians, one Ugandan and one Kenyan. Thirteen were sentenced in absentia, while the remaining were convicted in person.

The prison terms ranged from three to 15 years, followed by deportation from the country. Meanwhile, fines ranged from Dh200,000 to Dh10 million for each of the defendants.

Funds seized by the accused were also confiscated, in addition to cars, real estate, computers, mobile phones, watches and jewellery.

As per the details of the case, the defendants were associated with another unknown accused person in tampering with Internet protocols of a China-based website, specialised in securities trading. It used a fictitious address to defraud victims, who were lured into investing in securities. The group then laundered the money to conceal the truth about the source of these proceeds.