Chinese Long River money syndicate, alleged to have used bank employees, busted by police
Australia’s major banks helped the Long River syndicate funnel hundreds of millions in dirty cash around the world, police allege, as the trappings of astonishing wealth are revealed.
Australia’s biggest money-laundering syndicate, which allegedly funnelled hundreds of millions of dollars in dirty cash around the world and used suspected accomplices in major banks, has been smashed by police who raided 20 properties and seized mansions, luxury cars and expensive jewellery on Wednesday.
The Australian Federal Police claimed it had dismantled the Chinese operation in a series of raids across five mainland states that led to the arrest of seven alleged kingpins of the Long River syndicate.
The seven – four men and three women – all lived in Melbourne and are set to face court on Thursday, with police alleging they washed $229m in crime proceeds for criminal gangs over the past three years.
Bank employees are believed to have been caught up in the money-laundering scheme, either by failing to notice suspicious activities in the accounts, or by deliberately turning a blind eye to them. Police have not named which banks were involved, and no bank employees have been charged, although further charges have not been ruled out.
NAB, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ and Bendigo Bank are all working with the AFP on the investigation.
The complex police operation, named Operation Avarus-Nightwolf, has been running covertly for 14 months but burst into the open on Wednesday when 240 AFP members and 92 forensics and other specialists, including dog handlers, executed search warrants right across the country.
In Melbourne, men and women in handcuffs were led out of upmarket homes, and luxury cars including a Mercedes Maybach and a Porsche, were hauled away on the back of trucks. More than $50m worth of vehicles and properties were seized.
“We allege they lived the high life by eating at Australia’s most extravagant restaurants, drinking wine and sake valued in the tens of thousands of dollars, travelling on private jets, driving vehicles purchased for $400,000, and living in expensive homes, with one valued at more than $10m,” AFP Eastern Command Assistant Commissioner Stephen Dametto said.
The group, dubbed the Long River syndicate by the AFP, was alleged to have laundered the money through their shadow control of the Changjiang Currency Exchange, a national money remitter and currency exchange chain with 12 shopfronts across every mainland Australian state.
The dirty-money transactions to and from Australia, mainly to China but also to and from the US, were allegedly hidden within the billions of dollars worth of legitimate transactions undertaken by Changjiang, one of Australia’s largest money remitters.
The company was moving up to $100m a day for customers across Australia and internationally, and police allege the illicit transactions were masked by the large numbers of legitimate money transfers.
‘The Long River money laundering organisation entrenched itself into the very fabric of the financial services industry.’
The task force, led by the AFP and including Australian Border Force, AUSTRAC, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, the Australian Taxation Office and the US Department of Homeland Security Investigations, alleges four Chinese nationals who reside in Australia, and three Australians with links to China, headed up the syndicate.
They were expected to be charged with offences including money laundering with a value of more than $10m, which carries potential jail terms of life imprisonment.
Those arrested, all from Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, are a man, 40, from Glen Iris, a woman, 33, from Vermont, a man and woman, both aged 35, from Kew, a 37-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman from Balwyn, and a 37-year-old man from Balwyn North.
The man from Balwyn, an Australian citizen, was charged with two counts of conspiring to deal and engage in conduct with the proceeds of general crime, valued at $10m or more, charges which carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.
All seven are expected to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday.
The AFP will allege syndicate members were able to amass a significant amount of illegal wealth from their criminal activity, including trophy homes, sports cars and expensive luxury watches.
They were also alleged to have each purchased $200,000 fake passports, in case they were needed for a hurried departure from Australia.
A five-bedroom home in the exclusive suburb of Balwyn, with an underground eight-car garage, was one of the properties seized. It sold in May after just 10 days on the market for $10m.
A home in Kew was also seized, with a $400,000 luxury European car and a $94,000 diamond Rolex watch among the items taken by police.
In other raids, police seized handbags worth thousands of dollars by designers Hermes and Louis Vuitton.
Police allege the money laundered by the Long River syndicate included proceeds of three types of crime – drug trafficking, cyber scams, and violent crimes.
The money was moved mainly offshore from Australia in cryptocurrency transfers, or by transferring cash from legitimate back accounts.
Police allege those legitimate accounts were set up by family members and associates of the Long River syndicates and used to move money from sham businesses set up in order to move illicit funds offshore.
It will be further alleged the Long River syndicate coached individuals on how to register sham businesses with ASIC, in order to avoid scrutiny of regulators such as AUSTRAC.
Mr Dametto said the AFP would allege the syndicate was able to hide its allegedly illegal behaviour because it looked like a legitimate money remitter.
“The reason why this investigation was so unique and complex was that this alleged syndicate was operating in plain sight with shiny shopfronts across the country – it was not operating in the shadows like other money-laundering operations,’’ he said.
“Unlike traditional money-laundering organisations that exploit vulnerabilities in the financial sector, the Long River money laundering organisation entrenched itself into the very fabric of the financial services industry, becoming one of the largest independently owned remitters in the country.’’
Four of those arrested are Chinese nationals living in Australia and three others are Australian nationals with Chinese links.
Police have not identified the criminal gangs who were using Long River to wash their dirty money.
AUSTRAC, Australia’s financial transaction regulator, is thought to be closely examining Changjiang’s licence to remit money, which could be suspended as early as Thursday.
The business has transferred more than $10bn over the three-year period police allege the money-laundering occurred – and the vast bulk of those transactions were lawful.
“It is alleged the syndicate would coach its criminal customers how to create fake business paperwork, like false invoices and bank statements,’’ the AFP said in a statement.
“It is alleged this enabled criminal customers and the Changjiang Currency Exchange to show authorities that unlawfully gained money was from lawful sources in the event the transfers came to the attention of authorities.
“Put simply, this is how the AFP alleges money was laundered – that the Changjiang Currency Exchange transferred unlawfully obtained funds to national and international accounts by claiming it was the legitimate business profits and business expenses of their customers.
“The AFP will allege the construct of Changjiang Currency Exchange’s criminal enterprise, and accomplices allegedly recruited within the financial sector, also enabled syndicate members to financially benefit from the proceeds of crime and tax evasion from 2020 to 2023.’’
