TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The American Institute in Taiwan revealed that the US and Taiwan partnered to take down a fraud network earlier this year.

Joint law enforcement authorities arrested Taiwanese suspects, including a man surnamed Liao, involved in a major Taiwan-US cross-border financial fraud case that targeted the elderly and involved over US$100 million (NT$3.02 billion) of laundered money, according to an AIT press release. 

Liao is suspected to be a high-level leader responsible for organizing global financial fraud schemes.

The investigation began in May 2023 when law enforcement found suspicious financial documents on two Taiwanese travelers. This discovery led authorities to uncover “a highly sophisticated international criminal organization” that defrauded hundreds of elderly victims across the US and laundered money through various shell companies and international accounts, per the press release. 

AIT pointed out that personnel from Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau and prosecutors from Taichung District Prosecutors Office flew to the US to conduct a proffer interview with a Taiwanese defendant for the first time through a mutual legal assistance agreement request.

The case also involved Taiwan’s National Police Agency, Ministry of Justice, and the US Homeland Security Investigations Office. 

Last month, Taiwan and US law enforcement joined forces to apprehend a suspected Taiwanese drug trafficker in Los Angeles.