On December 23, the former CEO of AAX, Liang Haoming, and the founder of AAX, Thor Chan, were arrested.
According to local media reports, Hong Kong police arrested two executives of the crypto exchange AAX on suspicion of fraud and misleading the police.
On December 23, Weigao Capital CEO Liang Haoming and former AAX CEO Thor Chan were arrested. Local authorities accused them of using “system maintenance” as an excuse to keep customers from withdrawing assets due to liquidity problems.
One of the executives is also accused of intentionally misleading law enforcement by lying to them about the timeline of his activities at the company.
Two of AAX’s bank accounts have been frozen, as have the executive’s bank accounts and properties. A third executive is said to have fled overseas with an AAX wallet and private keys containing around $30 million in digital assets. The police seized his properties in Hong Kong. Hong Kong authorities are collaborating with international investigators to track down the funds as part of the investigation.
Since mid-November, the Hong Kong-based platform has been offline for “system maintenance,” leaving 2 million registered users without access to their funds. Local police have received over 337 reports from victims in China, Taiwan, Italy, and France since then.
AAX halted withdrawals on November 14, citing a glitch in the exchange’s system upgrade. The company assured its community that the withdrawal halt had nothing to do with the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, as rumor had it.
AAX’s vice president of global marketing and communications resigned a few weeks later. Ben Caselin confirmed his departure from the crypto exchange on Twitter, stating that despite his efforts to fight for the community, the initiatives he proposed were rejected. He described his role in communications as “hollow.”
In Nigeria, users harassed former employees of the crypto exchange’s Lagos office following the shutdown of its operations.
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