A Hong Kong court has sentenced Lam Chun-yin, 32, a former relationship manager at China Construction Bank (Asia), to four years in prison for his role in a cryptocurrency-facilitated bribery scheme. Lam accepted more than $470,000 in Tether (USDT) to authenticate forged bank instruments with a stated value exceeding $1.6 billion.
According to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), Lam worked in consumer banking at a Causeway Bay retail branch. His job duties never included handling letters of credit, and the bank had not authorized him to do so.
The Scheme's Operation
The fraud involved Vesttoo Limited, an overseas fintech firm that has since ceased operations. The platform facilitated insurance-related investment deals, requiring investors to post bank-issued standby letters of credit as guarantees.
Yu Po Holdings Limited became an investor through the platform in early 2022. A crime syndicate then arranged for Lam to falsely present himself as the contact point at China Construction Bank Corporation for issuing credit guarantees.
Between April and June 2022, Lam conspired with a Vesttoo department head and associates to accept Tether payments. He authenticated multiple standby letters of credit falsely claiming to originate from the bank, along with two collateral letters falsely attributed to Yu Po Holdings.
Discovery and Sentencing
China Construction Bank (Asia) uncovered the scheme during an internal investigation and reported it to the ICAC. The commission's inquiry confirmed that neither CCB nor its sister companies had issued any of the forged letters.
Judge Ernest Lin Kam-hung imposed a four-year sentence, calculated from a six-year starting point with a one-third reduction for the guilty plea. Lam was also ordered to repay approximately HK$3.7 million to CCB (Asia), equivalent to the bribes received.
The ICAC has applied to the court for arrest warrants for other individuals implicated in the case. Those involved attempted to conceal the scheme by channeling bribe payments through cryptocurrency.
Broader Context
The case reflects a broader pattern of cryptocurrency involvement in Hong Kong's enforcement record. Hong Kong police froze virtual assets worth HK$480 million during 2025. The city also prosecuted 16 people in November 2025 in connection with a separate virtual asset trading platform fraud involving more than 2,700 victims and losses exceeding HK$1.6 billion.
