Lin Bingwen was shot dead by three attackers
Taiwanese fugitive Lin Bingwen, wanted for illegal gambling and money laundering, was shot dead in Cambodia, Taiwan authorities confirmed.
According to Cambodian police, Lin was gunned down Monday night on an isolated road in Sihanoukville – a coastal town in the southeast of the country known for its casinos – “by three to four” assailants who immediately fled, Cambodian authorities said.
The crime was described as premeditated and an arrest operation is underway, without official confirmation of the motives.
Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Department (CIB) confirmed the death, putting an end to a persecution that had lasted for more than a year and involved several jurisdictions.
Lin was on the wanted list for his alleged involvement in the “88 Club” scandal in Taipei, considered one of the biggest cases of parallel banking and illegal gambling in Taiwan, with illicit transfers estimated at 21.7 billion Taiwan dollars (585.8 million euros).
The case led to the conviction of Guo Zhemin, leader of this private club, extradited in 2023 and sentenced in 2025 to almost 12 years in prison, with the seizure of significant assets, including cryptocurrencies.
The scandal also involved dozens of Taiwanese police officers, convicted for links to the club, which functioned as a private space for influential business and political figures.
With a background in organized crime in Taipei, Lin was also linked to a baseball game-fixing scandal in 2007 and later joined the VIP gaming promotion sector in Macau.
With the collapse of this model of attracting VIP players, following the arrest in Macau of the biggest figures in the sector between 2021 and 2022, it began to operate in clandestine parallel banking structures and payment platforms.
In 2023, he was accused in the “88 Club” case and released on bail of three million Taiwan dollars (80,962 euros), but disappeared at the end of 2024.
During his escape, he remained active on social media, denying that he was fleeing justice and promising to return to Taiwan on his own terms.
According to Taiwanese media, Lin was involved in hotel and casino operations with Chinese partners in Sihanoukville, in a city said to be the regional center for illicit gambling and clandestine financial networks.
The investigation into the homicide continues, with no arrests announced by the Cambodian authorities.
Taiwan’s Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) this week accused 10 people of using Macau casinos to launder 33 billion Taiwan dollars (893 million euros) from illegal Internet gambling.
The operation led to the arrest of 20 people, the freezing of almost 231 million Taiwan dollars (6.22 million euros) in bank accounts and the seizure of 2.62 million Taiwan dollars (71 thousand euros) in cash.
The number of suspicious transactions registered in casinos in Macau, the world’s gambling capital, fell by 6.1% in 2025, according to official data.
