Reported by Jonathan Browning and Upmanyu Trivedi

A fintech owner in London is facing allegations that he helped notorious drug traffickers attempt to launder hundreds of millions of euros through a crypto exchange platform on a scale rarely seen by European prosecutors.

Authorities in Belgium are seeking the extradition of Caio Marchesani from the UK as part of their effort to dismantle a transnational gang. They accuse the 38-year-old Italian of “knowingly and intentionally” hoarding piles of cash and converting them to bitcoin for Sergio Roberto De Carvalho, a Brazilian described by Interpol as one of the world’s most wanted kingpins before his arrest in 2022, and Flor Bressers, a Belgian national known as the “finger cutter,” who was also nabbed last year.

Marchesani owns Trans-Fast Remittance, a payments business regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. He was arrested in May at Heathrow Airport.

The Belgian investigation kicked off three years ago after Dutch customs officials seized more than 12 tonnes of cocaine, worth more than €260 million ($283 million), from containers at Europe’s busiest port, Rotterdam. Authorities traced the haul to Bressers and De Carvalho, later zeroing in on Marchesani after a breakthrough in decoding encrypted communications.

Marchesani managed 14 Binance accounts for Bressers, according to Belgian prosecutors. He also held cash for De Carvalho, charging suspiciously high rates of as much as 9% for transferring funds, the prosecutors said.

As many as 85% of Trans-Fast customers were Brazilian, filings from a separate employment case show. A recorded company telephone message says it is currently offline and unable to process orders.

The underground network is alleged to have essentially combined new technology with hawala, a centuries-old money transfer system practiced in regions including the Middle East, where international and local remittances are paid largely based on trust. Its use of crypto currencies increased after the Covid pandemic made cash deliveries much harder, according to Belgium prosecutors.

Read full report: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-07/shadow-banker-alleged-to-have-laundered-drug-money-through-binance-exchange#xj4y7vzkg