TechFlow reports that the second-instance verdict in the PlusToken online pyramid scheme case, prosecuted by the Yancheng Economic and Technological Development Zone People's Procuratorate of Jiangsu Province, has been made public. According to the criminal ruling document, the court affirmed that the original judgment was accurate in determining the charges and appropriate in sentencing; therefore, it rejected the appeal and upheld the original ruling, with the second-instance ruling being final.
In the first instance, the court sentenced 16 defendants, including Chen Mou, Ding Mou, and Peng Mou, to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from two to eleven years for organizing and leading a pyramid scheme, and imposed fines. The illegal proceeds, assets, accrued interests, and tools used in the crime were confiscated and turned over to the state treasury as required by law.
Investigations revealed that from May 2018 to June 2019, Chen Mou, Ding Mou, Peng Mou, and others set up the PlusToken platform, recruiting over 2 million members. In addition to domestic members, the platform attracted many overseas participants, forming more than 3,000 hierarchical levels. Within one year, the platform amassed approximately 9.48 million units of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum from its members, valued at over 50 billion RMB based on market prices at the time.
It was further confirmed that after the incident, law enforcement authorities seized the following digital currencies from the platform: 194,775 BTC, 833,083 ETH, 1.4 million LTC, 27.6 million EOS, 74,167 DASH, 487 million XRP, 6 billion DOGE, 79,581 BCH, and 213,724 USDT. These digital currencies will be handled according to law, and all resulting funds and gains will be legally confiscated and remitted to the state treasury.
