Alleged members of money laundering syndicate Fei Duan, Ye Qu and Ding Wang granted bail

Three alleged members of the Long River syndicate, who are accused of washing more than $220m of dirty money, have been granted bail — but with “draconian” conditions.

Three alleged members of the criminal syndicate accused of washing more than $220m of dirty money have been granted bail after their loved ones agreed to offer up millions of dollars as surety.

Fei Duan, 37, Ye Qu, 35, and Ding Wang, 40, are three of the seven members accused of secretly running the Changjiang Currency Exchange to launder hundreds of millions of dollars of criminals’ cash over the past three years.

Australian Federal Police smashed the gang, known in underworld circles as the Long River syndicate, on October 25 with more than 300 police officers executing raids on homes and offices nationwide.

Mr Duan, from Balwyn North, Mr Qu, from Kew, Mr Wang, from Glen Iris, and four co-accused were arrested and charged with money-laundering offences.

The trio sat in the dock of the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday, supported by dozens of loved ones in the body of the court and aided by an interpreter.

Changjiang Currency Exchange had 12 shopfronts across the country. Picture: Supplied

Magistrate Malcolm Thomas said he had “no issue” with granting their applications for bail after the alleged ringleader of the syndicate Zhuo Chen, 37, from Balwyn, was bailed last week albeit with strict conditions.

Police allege Mr Chen was the “principal controller” of the Changjiang Currency Exchange.

The company – which had 12 shopfronts across the country – was allegedly a front for a complex scheme that taught criminals how to create fake business paperwork to hide their money trail.

The exchange allegedly laundered the proceeds of crime over the three-year period, while also dealing with more than $10bn of legitimate transactions.

AFP conducted raids on October 25 across Australia. Picture: Supplied

However, Mr Chen was granted bail despite police alleging he phoned two charter jet companies, ordered the destruction or fabrication of evidence and had a “propensity” to interfere with witnesses.

On Friday, Mr Duan’s defence barrister Patrick Tehan KC said one of his client’s friends, who owns a $2.5m vacant block of land in Hawthorn East, would provide a surety.

Philip Dunn KC, for Mr Qu, said two of his client’s family friends – one of whom owns a $4.3m home in Toorak – were willing to offer a surety, while Rishi Nathwani SC, for Mr Wang, said his client’s surety was secured by his father’s home in Narre Warren.

The court heard the three men have no prior convictions.

One of the alleged members of the criminal syndicate Jie Lu was bailed last week. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Mr Thomas said he would impose similarly strict bail conditions – which he described as “draconian” – while the AFP continued to collect witness statements.

The court heard the bail restrictions were “onerous” to reduce the risk of witness interference.

Mr Duan, Mr Qu and Mr Wang were ordered to surrender their passport, not leave their homes unless they had to for legal reasons and not contact prosecution witnesses.

They were also ordered not to possess any cryptocurrency, attend any Changjiang Currency Exchange shops or communicate with their staff.

They must also be fitted with an electronic ankle bracelet.

Each of the three men were released on sureties of $1.3m, with Mr Qu’s surety split into two sums of $650,000.

Three other alleged members of the syndicate – Vermont woman Jin Wang, 33, Mr Qu’s partner Jing Zhu, 35, and Mr Chen’s wife Jie Lu, 28 – were also granted bail last week with their applications unopposed by police.

The trio will return to court on December 7 where they can apply to vary their bail.