Seattle-area man indicted in $64M money laundering scheme

SEATTLE - A Seattle-area resident was recently indicted for nine counts of money laundering in connection to an investment scam that stole millions of dollars.

Geoffrey K. Auyeung, of Newcastle, was arrested on August 12 and is scheduled to be arraigned on September 5.

According to records filed in the case, Homeland Security Investigations traced $64 million in funds coming into 74 different bank accounts controlled by Auyeung.

The 46-year-old is accused of managing many accounts in the names of different business entities that were used in an elaborate wire fraud scheme.

Auyeung and his co-schemers allegedly convinced victims to send them money in exchange for oil tank storage in either Rotterdam, Netherlands, or Houston. They promised investors that they could make a significant profit by renting out the oil tank storage to others.

Once the funds came into accounts controlled by Auyeung, the money was quickly moved into other accounts, moved offshore, or was used to purchase cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, Tether, USD Coin, and Ethereum.

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The arrest brings an end to almost four and half decades of searching for a suspect.

Victims did not receive any information about their investment after sending the money, as Auyeung and others simply stopped responding.

Auyeung is accused of using multiple business names to front the scam, including Sea Forest International LLC, Apex Oil and Gas Trading LLC, Navigator Energy Logistics LLC, Terminal Energy International Escrow Service LLC, Energo Horizons Logistics (EA) LLC, Legacy Energy Logistics Transport Group LLC, and Green Tree Gateway LLC.

The scheme, which went on for two years, had at least 22 confirmed victims with a combined loss of $7.7 million. Law enforcement believes there are many more victims that have yet to come forward.

The indictment calls for the forfeiture of some $2.3 million seized from Auyeung’s bank accounts. Millions more in funds that were transferred to cryptocurrency are now frozen pending seizure.