Seven members of an alleged Chinese organised crime syndicate accused of secretly running a prominent, multi-billion-dollar money remitting chain in Australia, have been charged under the most complex AFP-led money-laundering investigation in the nation's history.
The Changjiang Currency Exchange, which the AFP alleges is being secretly run by the Long River money laundering syndicate, is accused of laundering almost $229 million in the proceeds of crime in the past three years.
More than 240 AFP members, plus 92 specialist members, yesterday executed 20 search warrants across every mainland state while simultaneously restraining more than $50 million in property and vehicles under AFP-led Operation Avarus-Nightwolf.
Four Chinese nationals and three Australian citizens have been charged for their alleged involvement in the money laundering syndicate and are expected to appear in Melbourne Magistrates' Court today (Thursday, October 26).
Those charged include:
- A Balwyn man, 37.
- A Glen Iris man, 40.
- A Vermont woman, 33.
- A Kew man, 35.
- A Kew woman, 35.
- A Balwyn North man, 37.
- A Balwyn woman, 38.
