Hong Kong court upholds prison term in trafficking case linked to USDT

The Hong Kong Court of Appeal has upheld a 56-month prison sentence for Ma Zhihao following his involvement in a human trafficking operation. The case relied heavily on blockchain transaction records to link Ma to the criminal scheme.

Investigators traced approximately 8,127 USDT from a ransom payment made by a victim's family to a cryptocurrency exchange account registered under Ma’s real name and Hong Kong identity documents. The funds were subsequently converted into roughly HK$63,000 and transferred to Ma’s personal HSBC bank account.

The trafficking network operated by luring victims to Southeast Asia through fraudulent high-paying job offers advertised on social media platforms such as Facebook, Telegram, and Instagram. Once recruited, victims were often confined and forced to participate in scam operations. The court noted that the sentence could have been significantly longer if not for the District Court’s seven-year sentencing limit.