Sun Jianrong, a former Associate Director at UBS Group AG, was convicted in June 2024 by a Hong Kong court on money laundering charges for defrauding mainland Chinese clients of over HKD 130 million under the guise of assisting with cross-border remittances to Hong Kong. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Sun subsequently appealed the sentence, but the Hong Kong High Court's Court of Appeal issued a ruling on July 22, 2026, dismissing his appeal. The appellate court determined that the original trial judge made no error in principle regarding sentencing, and the term was not manifestly excessive.

The case stems from Sun serving as a client advisor for two mainland Chinese clients (Yu and Lou, a married couple who moved from Nanjing to Hong Kong in August 2013 and obtained Hong Kong ID cards) who held a joint account at UBS. Sun handled their fund transfer business starting in March 2014. Yu, a former leader of a prostitution ring in mainland China, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in Nanjing in 2020 for operating the criminal enterprise.

In October 2016, Sun told the couple that transferring funds via RMB to Hong Kong would be problematic. He suggested they deposit money into his mainland bank account, claiming he would convert the funds to HKD or USD and bring them to Hong Kong, before transferring the money to their UBS account through his cousin's Hong Kong account.

Between November 2016 and February 2018, following Sun's instructions sent via WeChat, Yu directed an accountant to transfer RMB 132.4 million in 37 separate transactions across 14 different dates into 29 mainland bank accounts. One transfer of RMB 5 million was sent directly to Sun's own China Merchants Bank account.

To maintain the illusion, Sun sent photos of "transfer applications" from his cousin Chi's HSBC account via WeChat after each transaction, falsely indicating the funds had reached the Hong Kong intermediary stage. Additionally, Sun provided monthly forged UBS joint account statements that precisely mimicked UBS's format, font, and even security features, falsifying core transaction data.

On June 8, 2018, Sun resigned from UBS, and the couple's account was handed over to a new advisor. The real statements provided by the new advisor revealed a shortfall of approximately HKD 125 million in the couple's account, with no matching deposit records. When Yu confronted Sun repeatedly, Sun initially blamed a work handover error, then falsely claimed the missing funds were held in a UBS sub-account. However, UBS verified that this account did not exist.

On June 12, 2018, Lou confronted Sun in person at his home. During a phone call, Yu demanded an explanation, and Sun claimed the funds were temporarily withheld by HSBC and had not yet been deposited into the couple's UBS account. Unsatisfied with this explanation, the couple reported the matter to the bank, whose employees contacted the police. Sun was arrested that evening.

When arrested, Hong Kong police found two bank cards on Sun: one belonging to his cousin Chi and the other from China Merchants Bank. They also discovered multiple car keys and property transfer documents for three properties in the UK and two properties in mainland China, with the two mainland properties valued at approximately HKD 29 million.

Subsequent forensic accounting investigations revealed that the funds missing from the couple's account flowed into two Hong Kong bank accounts controlled by Sun: an HSBC account received HKD 50.62 million, USD 5.15 million, and GBP 160,000; a Hang Seng Bank account received HKD 10.62 million, USD 1.72 million, and GBP 1.43 million.

Using these funds, Sun purchased four properties in London, including a building containing 27 apartments, and two properties in mainland China valued at a total of HKD 29 million. He also registered six luxury cars, including a Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Porsche.

In January 2024, Sun pleaded guilty to two counts of money laundering. On June 21 of the same year, he was sentenced to a total of 10 years in prison. The judge noted that Sun used the stolen funds to acquire numerous luxury cars and overseas properties, describing his "extravagant lifestyle far exceeding legal income." The case was also deemed cross-border and involved foreign elements. Dissatisfied with the verdict, Sun appealed. On July 22, 2026, the Hong Kong High Court dismissed the appeal, upholding the original sentence. On September 2, 2025, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission announced a lifetime ban preventing Sun from re-entering the financial industry.

Additionally, after Sun's arrest, the Hong Kong High Court issued a worldwide asset freezing order on July 18, 2018, prohibiting Sun from disposing of or dealing with his assets. However, Sun failed to comply, instead transferring the rights to his 27 London apartments to a British Virgin Islands company on July 27, 2018. On December 20, 2023, Sun was found guilty of contempt of court and sentenced to six months in prison.