Newcastle man will have to repay nearly $25 million after defrauding investors in oil scheme

A 47-year-old man from Newcastle will have to repay nearly $25 million to investors he defrauded in an oil scheme.

Geoffrey Auyeung pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy to commit money laundering for his scheme to take money from investors and forward it to coconspirators’ bank accounts and cryptocurrency addresses, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington announced.

Auyeung was arrested on a criminal complaint in August 2024 and indicted by a grand jury later that month.

How the oil scheme worked

According to the plea agreement, Auyeung admitted he set up nine different entities that he used to accept money from investors who thought they were investing in the oil and gas industry.

The names of the entities were: Sea Forest International LLC.; Apex Oil and Gas Trading LLC.; Navigator Energy Logistics LLC.; Terminal Energy International Escrow Service LLC.; Energo Horizons Logistics (EA) LLC.; Legacy Energy Logistics Transport Group LLC.; Green Tree Gateway LLC, Dragon Timbers International LLC; and ANS and Partners International Limited.

From at least August 2022 to August 2024, co-schemers convinced investors to send money to what they thought were escrow accounts to buy oil tank storage in either Rotterdam, Netherlands, or Houston.

The schemers said the investors could make large profits by renting the oil tank storage to others. But once the funds hit Auyeung’s accounts, they were quickly moved into other accounts, moved offshore, or were used to purchase cryptocurrencies.

Much of the cryptocurrency was transferred to accounts at the cryptocurrency exchange Binance. The Binance accounts were controlled by the same people located in Nigeria and Russia.

The investors were not sent any further information, and Auyeung and others stopped responding.

Auyeung opened at least 81 different bank accounts at 24 different financial institutions, according to the attorney’s office. He opened 19 accounts on eight different cryptocurrency exchanges.

Between June 2022 and July 2024, the accounts received $97.1 million.

Law enforcement traced deposits to around 35 different people or entities. About $24.7 million came from the victims, and the government believes the rest of the money is also fraudulent.

The attorney’s office noted that as Auyeung became more aware of the fraud, he demanded a higher commission from the coconspirators and received at least $4,078,348 in commission payments.

Auyeung admitted to misleading banks and other financial institutions about the source of the funds and his role in fraud complaints.

Scheme continued after indictment

Even after Auyeung was indicted in the scheme, he kept communicating with the coconspirators and with the investors. Between August 2024 and December 2025, Auyeung accepted an additional $400,000 by funneling deposits through bank accounts in his wife’s name.

Auyeung has agreed to pay $24,707,031 in restitution.

He is also forfeiting around $2.3 million in funds and cash seized from his bank accounts and home at the time of his arrest, along with an Audi SQ8. He also agreed not to contest the civil forfeiture of about $7.1 million seized from various cryptocurrency wallets, and to relinquish around $300,000 currently in his bank accounts to pay toward restitution.

The attorney’s office noted conspiracy to commit money laundering — specifically, spending — is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Auyeung’s sentencing is scheduled for May 12, 2026.

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