A Taiwanese woman accused of defrauding nine banks of NT$38.6 billion (US$1.27 billion) in loans has been repatriated to face trial after she was arrested in the United States late last year, according to the Ministry of Justice's Investigation Bureau (MJIB).
Wang Ying-chih (王音之), a former head of Taipei-based New Site Industries Inc. and one of the chief suspects in the fraud case, arrived at Taoyuan International Airport on Sunday (March 8) at around 5:20 a.m. on a flight from Los Angeles, escorted by two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, the MJIB said.
She was subsequently arrested by MJIB agents at the airport and taken to the Taipei District Prosecutor's Office.
According to the MJIB, Wang and her husband Yang Wen-hu (楊文虎) were both heads of New Site Industries, and the couple instructed their staffers to create fraudulent transaction records, fund transfers and investment schemes between January 2011 and May 2019 to deceive nine banks in Taiwan and secure NT$38.6 billion in loans.
The couple fled the country in June last year, and a warrant for their arrest was issued in August.
The MJIB then learned that the couple were hiding in their son's house in Los Angeles and asked for the assistance of U.S. authorities in apprehending Yang and Wang.
The two were arrested on Dec. 12 by U.S. ICE agents in Los Angeles, but Yang was sent back to Taiwan first, arriving on Jan. 21, because he was visiting the U.S. visa free and was not qualified to file for asylum, according to the MJIB.
Yang has been detained since and held incommunicado.
Wang, meanwhile, entered the U.S. on a B2 tourist visa and filed for asylum, though she was denied after an immigration court hearing on Jan. 23 and was ordered to be sent back to Taiwan.
Prosecutors formally indicted the two and 34 others, including staff at New Site Industries as well as employees at companies they colluded with, in the case on Jan. 9 for violating the Banking Act, Money Laundering Control Act, and Business Entity Accounting Act.