Huang Zhiyang, the fugitive alleged boss of a major human trafficking and cyberfraud operation in the Philippines, purchased a Cypriot passport and later used it to create the “mother corporation” that authorities say hosted the online scam centers.
Philippine authorities have charged Huang Zhiyang with human trafficking, and sued him for alleged money laundering. They have also frozen at least five bank accounts held by Huang in the Philippines.
But reporters have discovered that he also has 2 million euros ($2.1 million) available to him in Cyprus.
Huang spent the funds to qualify for Cyprus’ citizenship by investment program. He made his investment through a Cypriot real estate development company called Zimaco Holdings Limited – the developer of student accomodation for the University of Nicosia. He was not a suspect at the time he received Cyprus citizenship.
Zimaco Holdings told reporters that no restrictions have been applied to the funds it continues to hold for Huang. The company added that it has notified Cyprus’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), an anti-money laundering authority widely known as MOKAS, about the charges against Huang in the Philippines.
MOKAS declined to comment on whether it had taken action following the notification, citing laws that protect individual privacy.
“We can only confirm that some information is held by the MOKAS,” the agency said in an emailed response to questions.
Philippine officials said they were unaware of the money Huang holds in Cyprus until reporters informed them. Nicholas Ty, an undersecretary at the Department of Justice, said authorities have no immediate plans to pursue the funds.
“It’s a possibility, but that would entail going through court processes of Cyprus,” he said. “Priority remains to be his arrest via (an Interpol) red notice.”
Cypriot anti-money laundering authorities said they are willing to seek court orders to freeze funds if Philippines authorities ask for assistance.
“This can be done following the execution of a foreign request received by a country which investigates a criminal offence,” the MOKAS said.
The charges brought against Huang in the Philippines in August and September last year followed a raid by authorities on a sprawling compound in Bamban, a town about 95 kilometers north of the capital, Manila.
The compound was owned by Baofu Land Development Inc., which Huang co-founded in May 2019, using his Cypriot passport.
The Philippine Anti Money Laundering Council identified Huang as the principal financier of Baofu’s acquisition and real-estate development.
The country’s Department of Justice described the company as the “mother corporation,” which oversaw the establishment and operations of scam centers within its compound.
Huang’s whereabouts are unknown, and his lawyer in the Philippines did not respond to a request for comment. Huang did not respond to emails sent to five addresses linked to him in corporate documents.
‘Love Scammer’
Acting on a tip, authorities raided the Baofu compound in early March 2024. Officers from the national police and other agencies freed 875 people, mainly Philippine and Chinese, but also Rwandans, Indonesians and others.
They found firearms, as well as mobile phones and “love scam” scripts used to defraud victims, the state-run Philippines News Agency reported.
The scripts were used by scammers “forced to pretend as handsome-looking men seeking for love interests in social media, to scam lonely females,” according to the Philippines Department of Justice.
Cyberfraud has exploded in Southeast Asia in recent years, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, which said in a recent report that people across East and Southeast Asia lost between $18 and $37 billion from online scams in 2023 alone.
The scammers are often victims too. Many have been lured with offers of legitimate work, but find themselves held hostage and forced to defraud others.
The indictment against Huang and others outlines the plight of one alleged trafficking victim who tried to refuse work in a scam center. He told investigators he was told he had to pay 300,000 Philippine pesos (about $5,000) in order to leave, which he couldn’t afford.
“He was compelled to work as a love scammer,” the indictment states. “He never received compensation for the work that he has rendered. Instead he received beatings every time he failed to meet the mandatory quota.”
Another victim, who had a common Vietnamese name, was told he could not leave until he reimbursed the company for the cost of his travel to the Philippines. He described being beaten and tortured with electrocution when he failed to make his quota.
Multiple Raids
The raid in March 2024 finally led to charges against Huang. But two of his companies had been targeted before as part of investigations into cyberfraud and human trafficking. Neither of the previous raids resulted in charges against him, although he was named in a search warrant.
In May 2023, Philippine police rescued more than 1,000 alleged trafficking victims at a compound owned by Sun Valley Clark Hub Corporation, another company co-founded by Huang.
In February 2023 — just three months before the raid on Sun Valley — authorities swooped in on a company called Hongsheng Gaming Technology Inc., which operated out of Huang’s Baofu Land Development compound. More than 800 trafficked workers were reportedly rescued.
The Anti Money Laundering Council has listed Huang as an officer of Hongsheng. The Philippine Department of Justice also noted that police were granted a warrant to search and seize computer data from Huang during the raid of Honsheng.
“Huang’s status as the incorporator of Baofu and his reported presence as a target in the Hongsheng raid suggest his connection to the love scams, cryptocurrency scams, human trafficking and other illegal activities,” the Anti Money Laundering Council said in a legal petition to freeze Baofu Land Development assets.
Huang’s business partner in both Baofu Land Development and Hongsheng Gaming Technology was Alice Guo, the former mayor of Bamban, where the compound is. Guo faces dozens of money laundering and human trafficking charges, Philippines News Agency reported. She fled the country in July, but was extradited from Indonesia back to the Philippines in September.
Guo did not respond to requests for comment.
Huang managed to evade arrest during the February 2023 raid on Hongsheng Gaming Technology. According to an intelligence report cited in the Anti Money Laundering Council’s legal petition, he was “able to escape the BAOFU compound using Guo’s helicopter.”
The Anti Money Laundering Council, which is suing Huang for alleged money laundering, said in its petition that he was known as “Boss Wang,” and was wanted for arrest in his native China on charges of running illegal gambling houses.
The document notes that he holds passports from China, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Cyprus.
The new findings on Huang may appear in an upcoming Philippines Senate committee report on the online gambling sector, which has been at the center of several cyberscamming, human trafficking and money laundering scandals.
Committee members said they would consider information supplied by reporters about Huang’s money in Cyprus — and they may suggest that Philippine authorities seek to freeze the funds.
“The Committee is studying the possibility of including it as a recommendation in the committee report,” they said in an emailed response to questions.
Zimaco Holdings, the Cypriot real estate company holding Huang’s 2 million euros, said it had attempted to reimburse him for half his investment, but was unable to because he had failed to submit the required documentation.
Cypriot Deals
Back in Cyprus, an unrelated criminal case is unfolding that involves two people and a company that facilitated Huang’s citizenship application.
The case revolves around corruption allegations related to Cyprus’ golden passport program, but does not directly involve Huang’s application.
Cyprus’ former transport minister, Marios Demetriades, is facing corruption charges for exerting influence on citizenship applications. In a written statement following the indictment, Demetriades denied wrongdoing. “False allegations and malicious accusations were made to distort the truth and bring me to court. I have absolute trust in justice, knowing that in the end truth and justice always prevail”, he said. The hearing of the case in the Criminal Court will begin in Nicosia on Friday 17 January.
Authorities have also brought “influence trading” charges against a company called Delsk (Cyprus) Business Services Ltd., which is a subsidiary of a Beijing-based firm. The president of the Beijing company — an Austrian national named Josef Friedrich Santin — faces the same charges.
“Knowing the facts, it is a ridiculous accusation and I’m 100% sure that we will clear every aspect of it,” Santin said in an emailed response to questions.
Delsk handled Huang’s citizenship application, and Santin was also a director at Zimaco Holdings, the Cypriot real estate company holding Huang’s 2 million euros.