Woman in Court Over $7M Chinese Cigarette Money Laundering Scheme
After helping to import illegal Chinese cigarettes and launder over $7 million (US$4.71 million) in cash, a Sydney woman will soon learn her likely jail term.
Caixia Li, 49, faced a sentencing hearing in Parramatta District Court on Tuesday with her defence team arguing she played a role in an “unsophisticated” scheme in which she could be traced by authorities.
Li has pleaded guilty to one count of dealing with the proceeds of crime over $1,000,000 and one count of importing tobacco products with an intent to defraud the revenue.
She funnelled a total of $7.4 million earned by selling Chinese cigarettes through 23 corporate bank accounts.
According to agreed facts filed with the court, the Campsie woman worked alongside others in the plot to bring cigarettes from China delivered to PO boxes, and transfer the money earned through the bank accounts.
The accounts, which were set up with major Australian banks, were created either in the names of individuals Li knew who stood in as proxies or through companies that were created and then deregistered at later dates.
In April 2021, she attempted to use at least one bank account from a friend who was leaving Australia the following month.
“It is impossible for me to allow you to use my account because I know you have illegal activities. We are friends, and I am going, to be frank with you. Don’t ask me again,” the friend said.
Police surveillance and telephone intercepts saw Li seeking buyers for the tobacco and discussing money laundering methods with others in the scheme.
In one of these phone calls, an unknown male told her to keep a “coded record”.
“In this way, even if others see it, they wouldn’t know what that is. Understand what I mean? You use a code,” he said.
In October 2021, police also seized 1400 Double Happiness and Yuxi cigarettes sent from China to her PO Box in Campsie in parcels labelled “cotton socks, biscuits”.
The duty avoided on this single consignment was over $1,500.
Many of the bank accounts and PO boxes used in the scheme were connected with Li’s details, including her Campsie home address, email and mobile phone numbers.
She will be sentenced on May 5.
