$5.7M Bybit Crypto Scam Lands Ex-Employee Nearly 10 Years in Prison—Details

A former payroll processing staff member at Bybit, Ho Kai Xin, has recently been sentenced to nine years and 11 months in jail on February 20.

The charges stemmed from her fraudulent activities that involved defrauding ByBit Fintech, a Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange, of over $5.7 million.

The Charges And How The Fraud Happened

According to news media Straits Times, Ho was convicted on multiple charges, including cheating, dealing with the proceeds of criminal conduct, and providing false information to authorities.

In January, Ho had already served a six-week jail sentence for contempt of court after spending a portion of the misappropriated funds despite a court order.

Between October 2021 and October 2022, Ho’s role at Wechain Fintech Singapore gave her access to payroll data for around 900 ByBit employees.

Using this position, she manipulated Microsoft Excel files to create false payment records, funneling cryptocurrency payments intended for employees into her personal electronic wallets. ByBit transferred over 4.2 million USDT into Ho’s wallets in eight transactions over a span of four months.

The report noted:

To deceive ByBit into paying out these amounts, Ho inserted the names of its employees together with her electronic wallet addresses. She then received the money from ByBit in her electronic wallets before converting her ill-gotten gains into fiat currencies. From May 31 to Aug 31, 2022, ByBit made eight cryptocurrency transfers from its electronic wallet to Ho’s four wallets, amounting to more than 4.2 million USDT. After committing multiple counts of cheating involving $5.7 million in total, she laundered over $4.3 million of her criminal proceeds.

Lavish Lifestyle Funded by Fraudulent Transactions

Just as every other fraudsters, Straits Times reported that Ho used the stolen funds to finance a luxurious lifestyle. She placed a substantial down payment on a multimillion-dollar penthouse, purchased high-end items from brands such as Louis Vuitton, and even acquired a Mercedes-Benz.

Despite being ordered by the court to refrain from using the stolen assets, she spent nearly $840,000 on various luxury goods, resulting in her earlier contempt of court sentence.

Authorities eventually recovered more than $330,000 worth of assets from Ho, including the vehicle and over 1.1 million USDT from her wallets. However, a significant portion of the stolen amount remains unrecovered, and Ho has yet to offer repayment.

During sentencing, the court noted the calculated nature of Ho’s scheme. She operated multiple bank accounts and electronic wallets to divert the fraudulent funds, using sophisticated methods to avoid detection.

Although her defense argued for a reduced sentence, citing her role as a mother of two young children, the severity of the crimes and the deliberate manner in which they were carried out led to the nearly decade-long prison term.

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