Recently, a former employee from Bybit’s payroll team, Ho Kai Xin, found herself sentenced to nearly ten years in prison as revealed on February 20. Her sentence, lasting nine years and 11 months, comes after she engaged in fraudulent schemes that swindled more than $5.7 million from ByBit Fintech, a cryptocurrency exchange based in Seychelles.
Inside the Scheme and Charges
The Straits Times reported that Ho faced multiple charges for her criminal actions, including deceit, handling criminal proceeds, and providing false information to authorities. Back in January, she had already experienced a brief stint in jail, serving six weeks for contempt of court when she spent some of the stolen funds against a court order.
The fraudulent acts took place from October 2021 to October 2022, while Ho worked at Wechain Fintech Singapore. Her position granted her access to payroll data for around 900 ByBit employees. She exploited this access by manipulating Excel files to mimic legitimate payment records, secretly redirecting cryptocurrency intended for staff into her own electronic wallets. In a span of just four months, ByBit unknowingly transferred over 4.2 million USDT into her accounts across eight transactions.
As one report detailed, to trick ByBit into these payouts, Ho inserted employee names alongside her wallet addresses. The funds, once in her possession, were quickly converted into fiat currencies. During a period from May 31 to August 31, 2022, ByBit transferred substantial cryptocurrency sums, totaling above 4.2 million USDT, straight into Ho’s wallets. Her operations involved cheating them out of $5.7 million in total and laundering over $4.3 million of that money.
Luxury Funded by Deceit
According to the Straits Times, Ho used the ill-gotten money to support an opulent lifestyle. She laid down a hefty deposit on a luxurious penthouse, indulged in high-end brands like Louis Vuitton, and even purchased a Mercedes-Benz. Despite a court order prohibiting the use of the stolen funds, she didn’t hold back, spending close to $840,000 on various luxury items, which contributed to her earlier contempt of court sentencing.
In the aftermath, authorities managed to recover more than $330,000 worth of assets from Ho, including the Mercedes-Benz and over 1.1 million USDT from her cryptocurrency holdings. However, a vast portion of the swindled money remains missing, and Ho is yet to make amends by repaying the amount.
During sentencing, the court highlighted the calculated nature of Ho’s activities. She utilized numerous bank accounts and electronic wallets to obscure her trail and avoid detection. Although her defense pointed to her responsibilities as a mother of two young children as a reason for leniency, the court was swayed by the gravity and premeditated nature of her offenses, culminating in a nearly ten-year imprisonment.
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