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| District Court in Tsuen Wan |
A Hong Kong-born Filipina charged with money laundering after her bank account was used to funnel $2.6 million in deposits of money from a mainland scam, was jailed for 36 months today after trial at the District Court.
Tara Rose Gonzales, 33 years old and a restaurant manager, had
testified that she lost her Bank of China ATM card along with a piece of paper on
which the PIN and her online password were written, and reported this to the
bank on Nov. 4, 2021 after she discovered the loss.
But in a two-day period, from Nov. 10 to 11, 2021, 15
deposits were made by the scam victims who had been convinced by syndicate members
posing as mainland police officers that they were under investigation and must pay
sums of money online to settle their cases.
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The deposits amounted to $2,566,233.38, all of which was subsequently
withdrawn.
Deputy District Judge Timothy Harry Casewell pointed out
that while Gonzales got the bank to replace the ATM card with its PIN unchanged,
she did not change the password for online access to the account, which was how
the deposits were made by the scam victims and allowed the scammers continued
access.
He rejected her defense that she reported the loss to the
bank, that she had not known that the account was used for crime, that she did
not permit anyone else to use the account and that she did not benefit from the
crime.
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He thus found her guilty as charged: dealing with crime money
“knowing or having reasonable grounds to believe that property… in whole or in
part directly or indirectly represented any person's proceeds of an indictable
offence.”
Judge Casewell convicted her of violating section 25(1) and
(3) of the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance.
In sentencing, he chose a starting point of 30 months, but
added another six months for aggravating circumstances.
