The Eastern Court today put off its verdict on a Filipina accused of money laundering, whose defense was that she did not know she had a bank account that was used for deposits and withdrawals of $1.1 million that was derived from an investment scam.
Deputy Magistrate Ho Tsz-chun adjourned the case of Daisy
Eugenio, 53 years old, to April 24 for verdict.
Eugenio testified in today’s trial that she was surprised
when police arrested her when she went to the Immigration Department to extend
her employment visa on March 14, 2025.
“I did not know I had a Mox bank account,” she said. She insisted she had only one bank account, which she opened in 1997 with the Philippine National Bank in Central through which she remits money to her family in Pangasinan.
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Eugenio was charged with dealing with property known or
believed to represent proceeds of indictable offence, contrary to sections
25(1) and 25(3) of the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance.
She was accused of allowing her Mox Bank account to handle
$1,125,995.38, deposited and withdrawn within 11 days from Jan. 7 to Jan. 17,
2024, “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.”
The prosecutor said the money came from two investors who
were attracted by a Facebook ad that promised high interest rates on their
money through a fake investment platform
The first victim, he said, poured over $1 million into the
platform by depositing most of that amount in Eusebio’s account. The second
transferred a total of $704,000 to several bank accounts, including Eusebio’s.
All this took place within 11 days.
Eusebio’s lawyer said the two victims fell for a scheme of
people they barely knew.
Similarly, he said, Eusebio was unaware of an online bank
called Mox when a Chinese man and a Filipino woman approached her and two
friends in a Wanchai park.
The two said they had a promo that offered a 20 percent
discount on purchases of $300 or more at Giordano and Bossini. In return, they
needed to register their HKID, which they could then use to get the discount in
Giordano and Bossini outlets anywhere in Hong Kong.
They also offered to give two of the three gifts available
-- a bag perfume or t shirt – if the registration is successful.
After taking a picture of their HKID, the Chinese man took
their “selfies” Eusebio testified.
Her lawyer said Eusebio did not realize the man had opened
a Mox account in her name until she was arrested at the Immigration Department months
later.
