Single-point failure? Top executives of Taichung Commercial Bank embezzle up to one billion New Taiwan Dollars, leading to seizure of numerous luxury cars, sports cars, and private jets

Taipei Commercial Bank Chairman Wang Guifeng and his associates have recently been accused of embezzling over 1 billion New Taiwan dollars from the bank and its insurance brokerage company for their extravagant private lives, including the purchase of luxury sports cars, luxury cars, and luxury homes, triggering a scandal in the financial industry. The case has been prosecuted by the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office on multiple charges and has undergone a series of searches and detentions in recent days.

Emptying Taipei Commercial Bank and the insurance brokerage company of up to 1 billion New Taiwan dollars

Seizure of a large number of luxury cars, jewelry, and other luxury goods

The main suspects were released on bail of 15 million New Taiwan dollars

A single point failure of human governance?

During his tenure as the head of Taipei Commercial Bank and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Taipei Bank Insurance Brokerage Company, Wang Guifeng was accused of abusing his power and misappropriating funds to purchase luxury cars, sports cars, and even private jets. Since 2014, these funds have been used to lease luxury vehicles and used for personal purposes, resulting in losses of over 200 million New Taiwan dollars for the two companies.

From 2014 to 2018, Wang Guifeng, along with Lai Lizhi from Taipei Bank Insurance Brokerage Company and Zhou Zhenan, the actual person in charge of Extreme Leasing Company, embezzled a total of 1 billion New Taiwan dollars from the companies under the guise of sponsorship advertisements and leasing private lodges.

During the investigation, law enforcement agencies seized a number of luxury goods, including Rolls-Royce, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and other luxury cars, as well as a large quantity of red wine, cigars, luxury watches, and jewelry. This evidence demonstrates the extreme luxury lifestyle of Wang Guifeng and his associates.

According to reports, the Investigation Bureau’s mobile task force in the northern region seized two Rolls-Royce Phantoms, one Aston Martin Zagato, one Aston Martin Rapide, one Mercedes-Benz S600, one Mercedes-Benz S500, one BMW 740, two Harley-Davidson motorcycles, 162 bottles of red wine, thousands of cigars, Breguet and Rolex watches, and over 50 financial accounts.

After a night of court hearings, Wang Guifeng was released on bail of 15 million New Taiwan dollars by the New Taipei District Court, while the other two main suspects, Lai Lizhi and Zhou Zhenan, were released on bail of 3 million and 8 million New Taiwan dollars respectively. In addition, the prosecutor ordered a large-scale search operation, confiscated a large amount of property and financial accounts, and restricted the defendants’ residence and travel rights.

Blockchain communities that advocate decentralization often worry about the single point failures brought by centralized organizations in traditional finance, and this incident is one such case.

The misuse of funds by senior bank executives refers to the illegal use of bank resources by insiders for personal consumption or investment, which violates laws and professional ethics. This behavior can seriously damage the security and reputation of the bank’s funds, and may result in legal consequences and regulatory penalties.

The solution proposed by the blockchain community is to improve automation and transparency through institutional reforms and to enhance supervision together, in order to reduce the impact of single point failures in traditional systems.

Taipei Commercial Bank

Wang Guifeng

Lai Lizhi

Zhou Zhenan