Suspect in real estate case repatriated back to Taiwan

Taipei, May 9 (CNA) A real estate mogul wanted for allegedly defrauding investors out of more than NT$500 million (US$15.41 million) was escorted by law enforcement officers back to Taiwan from Thailand on Thursday.

Lee Chen Miao-yin (李陳妙音), who was arrested in the Southeast Asian country on March 26, was transferred into the custody of the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office shortly after being repatriated on a flight to Taoyuan International Airport at 3:40 p.m.

She has been charged by prosecutors with violations of the Banking Act.

The mogul was indicted for her involvement, along with her husband Lee Chang-an (李長安) and co-conspirators Liu Wei-ting (劉威廷) and Rich Lee (李進倫), in Harbour View Residences, a 456-unit hotel and condominium development project in Bangkok.

According to the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB), the quartet used Blue Ocean Realty Co., a company established by Liu and Rich Lee in Taipei in 2013, to illegally accept deposits from clients without registering as a bank.

The MJIB said that Blue Ocean Realty Co. and a sister company in Thailand began to solicit funds for the Bangkok development project by promising investors annual returns of 4 to 6.5 percent.

From October 2016 to October 2018, the group recruited 88 people to invest in the project and the total deposits received amounted to 608 million baht (US$15.41 million).

Lee Chen served as the chairman of the company in Thailand, while Rich Lee and Liu were members of the board of directors.

Investors later reported the company to the police after it stopped paying the promised returns, the MOJ said.

In 2019, Lee Chen and her husband fled to Thailand, while the two co-conspirators were subsequently arrested by police in Taiwan.

In December 2023, the Kaohsiung District Court sentenced Rich Lee to 12 years in prison, while handing down a 10-and-a-half-year sentence to Liu for violating the Banking Act by illegally receiving deposits. Both sentences were subject to appeal.

Lee Chen and Lee Chang-an were listed as wanted fugitives by the Investigation Bureau in 2021.