A man who was arrested waiting for a one-way flight to Hong Kong has been jailed for his central role in a elaborate financial cyber scam resulting in $160 million losses.
Zimo Tang, 28, was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison, with a non-parole period of two years and two months when he appeared in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court on Friday.
He received a 25 per cent discount for pleading guilty to one charge of dealing with the proceeds of crime in excess to $10 million.
In his decision, Judge Christopher O'Brien said that Zang's conduct was a "necessary part" of the money laundering undertaken by the criminal syndicate to receive money from American cyber scams.
"His degree of recklessness is in my assessment properly described as elevated," the the judge said.
He said the money-laundering scheme harvested in total $161 million globally in a variety of financial online scams.
Tang was part of a larger criminal syndicate involved in global money laundering, which involved another three Chinese nationals all aged in their 20s.
In November 2023, Tang was arrested after he and one co-accused attempted to get on a one-way flight to Hong Kong.
A joint investigation between the Australian Federal Police and American authorities led to the arrests of the group and uncovered an elaborate global financial scam operation.
The AFP accused the group of involvement in a sophisticated investment scam involving social engineering, dating and employment sites, and messaging platforms to gain the trust of victims who were directed to fraudulent and legitimate foreign exchange and cryptocurrency investment platforms.
Judge O'Brien backdated Tang's sentence to account for his time in custody, meaning he will be eligible for parole in January 2025.
