TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Taipei District Court handed down 31 sentences on Thursday (Aug. 1) for individuals involved in the peer-to-peer lending platform, im.B, which was revealed to be a Ponzi scheme defrauding investors of NT$8.3 billion (US$255 million) between 2016 and 2023.
The founder of im.B, which is short for “I am Bank,” Tseng Yao-feng (曾耀鋒), was sentenced to 16.5 years in prison, while his girlfriend Chang Shu-fen (張淑芬) was sentenced to 12 years and two months. Another 29 defendants in the case were given jail time ranging from 1–8 years, depending upon their involvement, per CNA.
Taipei District Court estimated Tseng and his accomplices made more than NT$9 billion and broke various laws and regulations during their seven years of operations ranging from money laundering, banking laws, organized crime prevention, and fraud.
Throughout the trial, Tseng and his accomplices refused to reveal the whereabouts of NT$7.1 billion in missing funds and were largely uncooperative with the investigation. Tseng also expressed no intention of returning funds to defrauded investors, leading to a harsh sentence.
In addition to prison sentences, Tseng and Chao were forced to pay fines of NT$2.5 million and NT$1.5 million, respectively. Other defendants in the case were subject to lesser fines.
Tseng founded im.B in 2015 as a subsidiary of Taiwan Jinlong Technology. The peer-to-peer company was conceived as an online real estate lending platform focusing on second mortgages. Investors would be rewarded with annual returns between 6 and 13%.
The problem with im.B was that few people needed second mortgages, leading the company to falsify 95% of their debt portfolio through false property listings by accomplices or employees of the company. Investors were paid dividends simply from funds collected by other investors.
When the interest payments eventually stopped in December 2022, investors learned they had been duped, requesting access to all of their invested money.
Tseng did not provide a reasonable explanation to where the NT$7.1 billion in investor money had gone. He claimed that funds had been locked up in property seized by prosecutors or dispersed as business bonuses. Taipei District Court found his explanation unconvincing, forcing him to face felony criminal prosecution and possible civil claims.
Among the notable co-defendants in the case was former Executive Yuan advisor Chen Chen-kun (陳振坤), who was sentenced for money laundering after helping Tseng hide luxury items and conduct a property sale in Taoyuan. Chen was given a four-year suspended sentence and a NT$1.5 million fine, ordered to pay NT$1 million to the Treasury, and NT$12 million in criminal proceeds seized.