Former Blockchain Global Director Banned From Leaving Australia
The former director of Australian crypto firm Blockchain Global has been temporarily banned from leaving the country amid an investigation into his role in the collapse of the company, which owes $37 million (A$58 million) to creditors.
On February 28, 2010, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) received a temporary travel ban order from the Federal Court of Australia against company director Liang “Alan” Guo.
Guo – a Chinese national – must surrender any passport he owns and is banned from leaving or attempting to leave Australia until August 20.
The order was issued in Guo's absence, meaning he could not immediately respond to the decision. Guo will next appear in court on March 12.
“ASIC has applied for a travel ban order for Mr Guo out of concern that he may leave the country while the investigation continues,” the regulator said.
We have obtained interim orders preventing former Blockchain Global Director Liang Guo from leaving Australia. We are investigating the collapse of Mr. Guo and two other directors of a company-run #crypto-asset exchange https://t.co/ZqojEQoLUK
— ASIC Media (@asicmedia) February 28, 2024
In his Federal Court ruling, Justice Button said the case against Guo was “very serious”.
According to ASIC, Blockchain Global operated the crypto exchange ACX between January 2016 and December 2019.
Supervisor Guo transferred $1.69 million (A$2.6 million) from a bank account with ACX Exchange Investor Fund to make personal investments.
ASIC said in 2019 Guo transferred 21.11 bitcoins (BTC), currently worth approximately $1.3 million, to a private wallet he controlled.
ASIC is also investigating Guo and Blockchain Global directors Xue “Sam” Lee and Zijang “Ryan” Xu for allegedly breaching corporate law while operating the ACX crypto exchange.
Both Li and Xu are believed to live overseas. Judge Bouton Guo is the only person of interest left in Australia and the investigation is ongoing […] Refund”
ASIC – which began investigating the three last month – estimated their investigation would take around 12 months, according to the ruling.
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“It is not clear why the investigation started when Blockchain Global collapsed,” Justice Button said. “However, the investigation is still in its early stages.”
On January 29, the SEC was indicted by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission for its involvement in a $1.7 billion crypto fraud scheme operating under a series of projects called “HyperFund.”
Lee, alongside associate Brenda “Bitcoin Beautee” Chunga, is said to have made huge profits by promoting various membership packages to investors with false promises, crypto mining and other trending activities.
Lee is facing charges from the U.S. Attorney's Office for securities and wire fraud.
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Additional reporting by Jesse Coghlan.
