Chinese investors hide land deals in Japan by using cryptocurrency

Tokyo tax authorities uncovered a China-based scheme that invested about 27 billion yen ($237 million) in Japanese real estate using cryptocurrency to avoid the watchful eye of the Chinese government, sources said.

Officials of the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau conducted a tax audit of a company in the capital’s Taito Ward that operated a photo studio aimed at foreign tourists.

The company had annual sales of only about 10 million yen, but tax officials discovered huge amounts of cash going in and out of the company’s accounts, the sources said.

One of the accounts was with an exchange that converted cryptocurrency into yen.

Tax officials found that for the three-year period until March 2019, three individuals living in China sent the equivalent of about 27 billion yen in cryptocurrency to the Tokyo company to have it converted into yen. The Tokyo company pocketed some of the yen as its commission.

The three Chinese gave instructions through the WeChat app, and the converted yen was used in several real estate deals made by other Chinese investors.

The trio served as an intermediary to gather yuan from wealthy Chinese who

Source: https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14479613