Two convicts to pay Taipower NT$33.48mBy Hsu Kuo-chen and Jason Pan / Staff reportersThe High Court’s Taichung branch has upheld a lower court sentencing which had ordered the employees of a cosmetic surgery clinic to pay NT$33.48 million (US$1.06 million) to Taiwan Power (Taipower) after they were found guilty of stealing electricity to mine cryptocurrency. Cheng and Su had acquired 27 bitcoins, worth about NT$25 million in total, but stole about NT$76 million in electricity, according to court filings. Photo: Taipei TimesThe couple hired two employees, surnamed Hsu (徐) and Huang (黃), to monitor the eight stations, the filings showed. Taipower filed a separate civil claim and, after deducting what Cheng and Su had already paid, sought NT$33.48 million in compensation from the two employees. Huang said he was also just a worker and initially unaware of the electricity theft, adding that after finding out about it, he resigned and exposed the operation.

Source: Taipei Times January 26, 2026 17:14 UTC