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The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has exposed a large-scale multi-billion-dollar money laundering operation, serving to transfer dirty money from crime gangs into untraceable cryptocurrency. The global operation which was based in Moscow, stretches across 30 countries, and was discovered during the 2021 pandemic lockdown when drugs gangs across Europe had difficulty converting their cash into cryptocurrencies necessary for making purchases. Providing a solution, two cryptocurrency networks based in Moscow, namely Smart and TGR were used to exchange dirty street money for a usable asset. Those behind the operation charged a commission and laundered the cash through businesses and mules, ultimately paying the proceeds of crime into bank accounts as seemingly legitimate profits.
The operation has been revealed to have been used by the Russian state to fund espionage whilst the head of Smart’s cryptocurrency network, Ekaterina Zhdanova, was named as a key figure. As a result, the US office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned the head of TGR, a Russia-born Ukrainian national George Rossi, and his second-in-command, Russian national Elena Chirkinyan – both key members of the network. Zhdanova was previously sanctioned by US authorities in November 2023 for allegedly moving money for Russian elites.
Rob Jones, director general of operations at the NCA, said those involved in the network included Russian elites and crypto-rich cyber criminal gangs as well as UK drugs gangs. The thread connecting them had remained invisible until now. The key players have now been identified, making it extremely difficult for them to operate. In total, 84 people have so far been arrested, including 71 individuals in the UK.
The NCA added that it had seized £20m in cash during its investigation, relating to an estimated £700m in drugs sales. Most of the arrests and charges so far relate to those who acted as couriers throughout the network, collecting cash from gangs in the UK. The NCA warned that those seeking to move money from drug sales now would need to think twice, fearing the possibility of being compromised
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