Guo Zhe-min of '88 Club' Sentenced to 9 Years and 8 Months in Underground Banking Case

Central News Agency (Taipei, 29th) Guo Zhe-min, the operator of the '88 Club', was sentenced to 11 years and 8 months in the first instance for illegal currency exchange and gambling. During the second instance at the Taiwan High Court, Guo had already paid part of the criminal proceeds. Today, the court sentenced him to 9 years and 8 months for violating the Banking Act. The verdict can be appealed. The presiding judge of the second instance announced that Guo was sentenced to 9 years and 8 months for joint violation of the Banking Act. The criminal proceeds already paid, totaling over 77.59 million TWD, will be confiscated, and the unrecovered proceeds of over 3.3 billion TWD will be subject to forfeiture. The case originated from Guo's operation of online gambling and underground banking. After the case broke, he fled to Thailand but was extradited back to Taiwan in August 2023. The first-instance New Taipei District Court determined that Guo had gained over 3.5 billion TWD from illegal gambling and handled over 21.8 billion TWD in currency exchange, profiting 126 million TWD. During the second instance, Guo requested bail, but the court rejected the request and extended his detention for two months starting May 16.