The User Manager of a Web Company Took Bribes and Embezzled Virtual Currency to Cash Out Nearly Ten Million Yuan, Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison

BlockBeats News, May 19, Recently, the Haidian Court, in conjunction with the China Internet Association, released the "White Paper on Internal Personnel Corruption Cases in Internet Companies" and published typical cases. In one case, a certain internet technology company's user manager introduced a virtual currency business in cooperation with a supplier, accepted bribes, embezzled virtual currency for cashing out, and was ultimately convicted of bribery by the court, sentenced to nine years in prison; convicted of embezzlement, sentenced to six years in prison, and a decision was made to impose a twelve-year sentence.

From April 2014 to January 2019, the defendant Shi was the user manager of the Basic Business Product Department of the Tieba Business Division at a certain internet technology company, responsible for Tieba product design, exploring customer needs, and promoting solutions. During this period, the defendant Shi, taking advantage of his position, introduced a Beijing technology company to cooperate with his company in a virtual currency reward business and illegally accepted 6.08 million yuan from the company.

In addition, from June to December 2016, the defendant Shi, taking advantage of his position, in cooperation with a Beijing technology company in a virtual currency business at the victimized unit, cashed out some of the virtual currency through multiple Tieba accounts and transferred it to his controlled personal bank account, illegally appropriating 3.66 million yuan from the victimized unit. On February 17, 2021, the defendant Shi was arrested and taken into custody by the public security organ.

The court held that the defendant Shi, as a company employee, took advantage of his position, illegally accepted property from others, sought benefits for others, with a large amount involved, constituting the crime of accepting bribes by non-state functionaries; the defendant Shi, as a company employee, took advantage of his position to illegally appropriate company property for personal gain, with a large amount involved, constituting the crime of embezzlement, and should be sentenced concurrently for the crime of accepting bribes by non-state functionaries. The court ultimately sentenced the defendant Shi to nine years in prison for the crime of accepting bribes by non-state functionaries and six years in prison for the crime of embezzlement, with a total sentence of twelve years to be served. After the verdict was announced, the defendant appealed, and the appellate court, after hearing the case, dismissed the appeal and upheld the original judgment. The current judgment is final.

In the judge's analysis, the defendant's corrupt behavior in this case covers the entire process of internet company virtual currency development, operation, cashing out, from project design to requirement definition, then to supplier introduction and product implementation, and ultimately leading to bribery, directly embezzling virtual currency for cashing out. The defendant realized the value of his power to the extreme, with a huge amount involved in corruption, making it the longest sentence in the past five years for internal corruption cases involving internet company personnel. The electronicization of business processes, digitization of management permissions, virtualization of misappropriated property, and the complexity of the repayment chain have made the criminal behavior in this case difficult to detect. From the occurrence of the behavior to the defendant's arrest, it took about 6 years and 10 months, and it was finally due to the company receiving an anonymous report that the criminal clues were exposed. This case involves issues such as the review of electronic evidence, improvement of the evidence chain of virtual transactions, and determination of the amount of crime involving virtual property, showing the strong concealment of means and virtualization of illegal benefits in the corruption of internal personnel of internet companies and having a certain typical representative significance. (Beijing News)