Bybit Employee Jailed for 10 Years After Embezzling $5.7M in Crypto!

There is something new at Bybit, and it’s significant. Ho Kai Xin, former head of payroll management, was recently sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison for having defrauded the crypto exchange of a staggering amount of 5.7 million dollars. The details of this fraud are as striking as her lifestyle.

Bybit a victim of chain fraud

On February 20, the Singapore court delivered its verdict: Ho Kai Xin, payroll officer at WeChain, a subcontracting company for Bybit, was sentenced to 9 years and 11 months. This was not a mere mistake: the young woman manipulated Excel files to divert payments, transferring over 4.2 million dollars in crypto to her own wallets.

How did she do it? Simple as pie. Ho inserted fraudulent lines into Bybit’s payroll files, claiming payments to company employees. Except she replaced these fictitious employees with her own crypto wallet addresses. 

Every month, she siphoned off hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

For once, the fraud was not disguised under invisible amounts. Quite the opposite, Ho embarked on a genuine sleight of hand with digital currencies. 

As if that wasn’t enough, she then converted these funds into fiat currency to buy… a 3.7 million dollar penthouse, of course. But the extravagances didn’t stop there: handbags, shoes, and even Louis Vuitton jewelry were also on her receipt.

“When her actions went unnoticed, the accused felt empowered and continued her deceptions.” – The prosecutor

Crypto wallets: where is the money?

Ho did not just manipulate Excel files. She also opened multiple crypto wallets and six bank accounts to facilitate her illegal transactions. The calculation is quick: over 4.2 million dollars left Bybit for her wallets in just a few months. 

Fortunately, a portion of the funds was recovered: 1.1 million dollars in USDT and more than 140,000 dollars in a bank account were seized. Investigators even found over 330,000 dollars in luxury items, including a Mercedes-Benz. And Ho has still not offered to repay what she stole.

Key points to remember:  

• Total amount stolen: 5.7 million dollars;
• Amount recovered by Bybit: 1.1 million dollars in USDT stablecoin;
• Confiscation of luxury items: 330,000 dollars;
• Period of the facts: 2022;
• Conviction: 9 years and 11 months.

While waiting for the end of her first imprisonment, Ho will soon have to start her long sentence. But the case does not seem to have reduced her sense of guilt, as she has still not paid a dime to Bybit.

Crypto scam and false identity game

There is one detail worth noting: when the police arrested her, Ho did not hesitate to invent a fictional cousin, Jason Teo, whom she referred to as the culprit. Except that after investigation, it turned out that Jason Teo did not exist. Nice try, but unsuccessful.

This little lie added a new charge to her already full case. The scam was not a simple blunder; it was a well-thought-out plan.

What is astonishing is the ease with which Ho diverted money on crypto platforms. But this fraud raises the question: if she could do it to such an extent, what about other vulnerabilities in the world of crypto wallets?

The case recalls another recent judicial saga: the seizure of assets from Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, by American justice. Greed, whether virtual or real, always ends up being costly.