.svg)
Prosecutors in the Taiwanese city of Taichung have arrested an alleged online gambling boss, a disgraced journalist and three others linked to a detained law enforcement official who allegedly sabotaged a probe into the illegal gambling operation.
The Taichung District Prosecutors Office on Tuesday (May 28) announced the detention of the five suspects after a third series of raids on May 22 and May 23. All defendants were denied bail.
Prosecutors said they detained the CEO, surnamed Chen, of the unnamed online gambling company after summoning him for questioning while he was on bail.
All suspects face charges of illegal gambling operations, money laundering and organised criminal activity.
Chen had been detained in late 2023 while attempting to board a flight at Taoyuan International Airport, but was released on bail of NT$10m ($310,000) amid an additional investigation into Lin Ming-tso, a newly promoted top superintendent with Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau.
Lin is suspected of being an inside man for the “2580” online gambling group during his earlier posting as head of Taichung’s criminal investigation unit.
He is alleged to have sabotaged the prosecutors’ probe by informing group management of pending raids at multiple locations, allowing them to escape with millions of dollars.
Chen, whose wealth reportedly amounts to billions of dollars, is now in custody with two of his aides and two other suspects.
One of the aides, Shih Chen-kang, is a former reporter with cable news station TVBS, which fired Shih and several executives in 2007 after Shih produced a video for a known gangster.
The video shows the gangster threatening his enemies with several pistols and automatic weapons.
Prosecutors have yet to release details of their cases against the gambling company detainees, Lin Ming-tso and a seventh suspect in custody.
Also implicated in the case is former Taiwan E-Sports Alliance CEO Hsu Pei-ching, whom media reports have alleged served as a “honey trap” for Lin that resulted in the leaks.
Hsu has denied any association with the online gambling group in question, or any knowledge of the NT$1m in cash and NT$20m in bank funds that prosecutors retrieved from Lin’s home and bank accounts.
The prosecutors’ raids have cast a lengthy shadow over Taichung’s once-vibrant gambling technology ecosystem, which serves global customers and flourished for years amid official indecision and inconsistency over the legality of the B2B and B2C spaces.
However, a string of prosecutions over recent years in Taichung and Taipei, including active cases, has narrowed the industry’s operational parameters and forced companies with B2C interests and grey zone operations to wind back their visibility.
