The Philippine National Police (PNP) revealed at a press conference that two Chinese-funded casino intermediaries, White Horse Club and 9 Dynasty Group, suspected of assisting in receiving the ransom for the kidnapping of Chinese businessman Guo Congyuan, will have their gaming licenses revoked and face asset freezing and money laundering investigations.
The police stated that Guo Congyuan's family paid a ransom totaling up to 200 million pesos from March 31 to April 8. These funds were transferred in batches through White Horse Club and 9 Dynasty Group, eventually flowing into multiple e-wallets and converted into cryptocurrencies. Due to involvement in major crimes, the operating qualifications and cooperation rights with casinos of these two intermediaries will also be completely revoked.
PNP spokesperson Jean Fajardo pointed out that Guo Congyuan's son, Alvin Que, and his brother-in-law participated in paying the ransom. Among them, 9 Dynasty Group transferred the ransom to accounts under Lin Tingyu, Deng Chengzhi, and Lin Ning; White Horse Club transferred funds to Luo Guohui and Vietnamese Nguyen Huy Dung. Lin Tingyu then transferred part of the funds to Ni Qinhui's account, who has been arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in other cases.
The police revealed that after the ransom flowed into e-wallets, it was quickly converted into cryptocurrencies, greatly increasing the difficulty of tracking. PNP Chief Rommel Marbil bluntly stated, "Once the ransom is transferred into a cryptocurrency wallet, it's almost as if it has disappeared." He criticized some gaming platforms for weak supervision in account opening and fund transfer processes, "Almost anyone can open an e-wallet without identity verification."
Currently, the police have requested Interpol to issue a "red notice" for the suspects involved, to prevent them from leaving the country and to recover the funds. PNP's acting director of the Anti-Cybercrime Group, Bernard Yang, stated that the police have obtained some cryptocurrency wallet paths and have contacted two local Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) and two foreign platforms to obtain transaction data. One of the foreign platforms has successfully frozen about $79,000 (equivalent to 4.379 million pesos) of suspicious funds.
Fajardo also disclosed that 9 Dynasty Group has a large business network outside the Philippines, with operations in Cambodia, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam, including gaming platform 9D Gaming, remittance service 9D Bank/9D Agent, and cryptocurrency exchange platform 9D Guarantee. All transactions of the group are conducted through an app or website, without legal authorization from the Central Bank of the Philippines and the Anti-Money Laundering Council, or suspected of illegal operations.
According to media reports, the behind-the-scenes owner of 9 Dynasty Group is suspected to be a well-known Fujianese businessman in the Philippines, who attracted public attention after being refused citizenship by President Marcos.
