Taiwan indicts TV anchor over alleged USDT-funded Chinese influence scheme

Taiwanese prosecutors have indicted a television news anchor on allegations of receiving cryptocurrency payments from a Chinese operative to produce politically influenced content and obtain classified military information from serving and former officers.

According to the Taiwan Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office, 28-year-old Lin Chen-you worked under instructions from a Chinese national surnamed Huang while producing programs for CTi News and the network’s YouTube channel. 

Prosecutors alleged Huang supplied story themes and reviewed scripts targeting the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s recall campaign.

Authorities said Lin received at least 4,325 USDT from Huang in 2025 as part of the media arrangement. Prosecutors described the operation as an attempt to interfere with Taiwan’s political environment and national security.

Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that Lin also transferred money to six active or retired Army and Navy personnel in exchange for photographs of classified military documents. Investigators alleged the payments were routed through accounts on crypto exchanges Binance and OKX, with overseas transfers totaling NT$169,493, or about $5,395.

“Lin, as a well-known journalist, had a responsibility to hold the government to account and safeguard the public’s right to information in his reporting, but instead served a hostile foreign power for many years for personal gain,” prosecutors said during a Wednesday press conference, according to the Taipei Times.

Prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of up to 12 years for Lin on charges tied to Taiwan’s Anti-Infiltration Act, Money Laundering Control Act, and Anti-Corruption Act. The six military officials accused of leaking information were also indicted.

Concern over cryptocurrency use in political interference cases had already surfaced in Taiwan before the latest indictment. In July 2023, Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice warned that bitcoin, ether, and digital payment systems, including Line Pay, Pi Wallet, and Jiekou Payment, could be used to facilitate election bribery ahead of the island’s 2024 presidential election.

At the time, the ministry said investigators had prosecuted more than 1,300 election bribery cases linked to Taiwan’s 2022 local elections. Officials also stated that authorities had distributed more than 1.254 billion yuan in rewards to citizens reporting suspected bribery cases since 2000.

Taiwanese authorities later said they were coordinating efforts to prevent cryptocurrencies and alternative payment channels from being used in election-related corruption schemes.