The US Treasury announced Global Magnitsky designations on Wednesday against a number of "corrupt actors," including Wan Kuok Koi, a member of the Communist Party of China’s (CCP) Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and leader of the 14K Triad, "one of the largest Chinese organized criminal organizations in the world that engages in drug trafficking, illegal gambling, racketeering, human trafficking, and a range of other criminal activities."
The release detailed that 65-year-old Wan, commonly known as "Broken Tooth" was designated "for being a foreign person who is a leader or official of an entity ... that has engaged in, or whose members have engaged in, corruption."
A total of three entities "owned or controlled by Broken Tooth" were also designated: the Cambodia-based World Hongmen History and Culture Association, Hong Kong-based Dongmei Group and Palau-based Palau China Hung-Mun Cultural Association.
"The 14K Triad is utilizing Broken Tooth's World Hongmen History and Culture Association as an effort to legitimize itself," the Treasury release claimed. "The World Hongmen History and Culture Association has managed to co-opt elite figures in Malaysia and Cambodia."
The US Treasury went on to state the alleged actions of the World Hongmen History and Culture Association, founded by Wan in 2018, continue "a pattern of overseas Chinese actors trying to paper over illegal criminal activities by framing their actions in terms of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the China Dream, or other major initiatives of the CCP."
Wan was released from a Macau prison in 2012 following his 14-year stint for organized crime charges, including those which involved a string of murders and bombings in Macau, according to the Straits Times.
Earlier this year, Malaysia-based investment holding firm Inix Technologies Holdings Berhad appointed Wan as chairman.
The company release on the matter referred to Wan as a businessman within Macau's entertainment industry and owner of Macau National Ying VIP Club and National Ying Entertainment Co. Ltd.
Sanctions against Wan and other "corrupt actors" came as part of International Anti-Corruption Day, an annual anti-corruption initiative observed since 2003.
“On International Anti-Corruption Day, Treasury remains fully committed to imposing costs on those who facilitate corruption at the expense of the people,” said Deputy Treasury Secretary Justin G. Muzinich in the release.
