A Hong Kong court has imposed a four-year prison sentence on a former retail banker who accepted more than US$470,000 in Tether (USDT) to lend the appearance of legitimacy to forged standby letters of credit and related documents with a combined face value exceeding US$1.6 billion.

Lam Chun-yin, 32, previously worked as a relationship manager in the consumer banking division at the Causeway Bay branch of China Construction Bank (Asia).

His official duties involved serving individual retail customers.

He had no authority to process business credit facilities or letters of credit, and the bank never assigned him those functions.

On 18 September 2026, the District Court sentenced him after he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy…