Scots uni student who laundered almost £85k for Chinese 'Mr Big' crime lord is jailed

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A Beijing student at a Scottish university who laundered ten of thousands of pounds for a Glasgow-based Chinese crime lord wept as she was jailed today.

Xiaotong Huang, 28, laundered nearly £85,000 for the "Mr Big", or "main nominal", who travelled round Scotland in a Mercedes handing bags of cash to associates to clean.For nearly two years, Huang, who was studying for a masters' in publishing, paid the money into her bank accounts, transferred sums, purchased "high value luxury items", and used crime cash to pay her Stirling University tuition and accommodation fees.Tens of thousands of pounds, as well as thousands of pounds worth of expensive wine, were sent to China.

Solicitor advocate Calum Weir, defending, said Huang had been "naive, and to some extent exploited".He asked for her to be given a non-custodial sentence, so she could return to her parents in Beijing - described as people "of more than adequate means".

But jailing Huang for 18 months, Sheriff Keith O'Mahony said he was not persuaded there was any appropriate disposal other than custody.He noted, though: "I do accept she's not at the top of the tree." Huang, who was appearing for sentence at Stirling Sheriff Court on Thursday after being found guilty at Falkirk Sheriff Court in March, sobbed uncontrollably as she was led, handcuffed, to the cells.The court was told the Mr Big, named as Wai Ma, had absconded.