Picture for illustrative purposes only. ARCHIVE

The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court has convicted an organized criminal group of 79 people from different nationalities for the crimes of money laundering and fraud. The group specialized in internet fraud using fake URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) of a Chinese security brokerage and trading website. They deceive their victims to invest in securities with the aim of appropriating their investments, in addition to their money-laundering commissions to conceal the sources of the money received. The 79 people were identified to be 72 Chinese nationals, 1 Jordanian, 2 Nigerians, 2 Cameroonians, 1 Ugandan, and 1 Kenyan. The court ruled, in presence, against 66 defendants, and against 13 in absentia with the sentence of three to 15 years of jail term with deportation from the country after they serve their respective jail terms. The court ordered fines ranging from Dh200,000 to Dh10 million, in addition to confiscation of funds, bank balances, real estate, cars, computers, mobile phones, watches, and jewelry of the convicts. KSO/Expat Media
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