Hong Kong Appeals Court Upholds Prison Sentence for Human Trafficking Ringleader
A Hong Kong appeals court has upheld the 56-month prison sentence of Ma Zhihao, who was found guilty of participating in a human trafficking operation. The case involved five victims who were lured to Southeast Asia with false job offers before being confined and forced into scam operations.
The prosecution linked ransom payments from the operation to a crypto exchange account registered in Ma's name. Investigators traced 8,127 USDT from a victim's ransom to the exchange account, which was then converted into about HK$63,000 and transferred to Ma's HSBC account.
The court said the transaction trail supported the finding that Ma had participated in the scheme and received proceeds from it. The case highlights the use of blockchain records as evidence in investigations, a trend seen in other human trafficking cases in Southeast Asia.