Reported by: ANDY GREENBERG For years, the cryptocurrency economy has been rife with black market sales, theft, ransomware, and money laundering—despite the strange fact that in that economy, practically every transaction is written into a blockchain’s permanent, unchangeable ledger. But new evidence suggests that years of advancements in blockchain tracing and crackdowns on that illicit […]
Reported by: OLA WESTERBERG A Swedish court cleared on Wednesday Swedbank’s former CEO Birgitte Bonnesen of playing down the bank’s inadequate prevention of massive money-laundering through its operations in the Baltic states. Chief Judge Malou Lindblom speaks with reporters following the verdict delivery. (Photo: Ola Westerberg, OCCRP) In the highly unusual case, Bonnesen was charged […]
Reported by: Michael Schwirtz and Maria Varenikova Several top Ukrainian officials were fired on Tuesday amid a ballooning corruption scandal, in the biggest upheaval in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government since Russia’s invasion began 11 months ago. Ukraine’s cabinet ministry, which announced the firings, provided no reasons for them, but they followed a number of allegations […]
Reported by: Loop Cayman News During a Select Committee hearing last week, Derek Byrne, the Commissioner of Police of the Cayman Islands, made a startling revelation that “illicit proceeds of illegal gambling in the Cayman Islands are somewhere between thirty million and fifty million Cayman dollars per annum” and that “illegal gambling is an organized […]
Reported by: Benjamin Weiser and William K. Rashbaum A former senior F.B.I. official who oversaw some of its most secret and sensitivecounterintelligence investigations in New York was accused on Monday of taking money from a former Albanian intelligence employee and from a representative of a Russian oligarch. The charges against the former official, Charles F. McGonigal, […]
Reported by: Faith Karimi, CNN Ruja Ignatova strode onto the stage in a flowing burgundy ball gown adorned with black sparkles. Beams of light flashed, fireballs erupted and Alicia Keys’ “Girl on Fire” blared through the speakers. “Looks like a girl, but she’s a flame. So bright, she can burn your eyes — better look […]
Reported by: Thomas Barrabi A fugitive charged over an alleged market manipulation scheme in which a small New Jersey deli mysteriously drew a $100 million valuation was arrested last week in Thailand, the feds confirmed Thursday. Peter Coker Jr., 54, had been on the lam since last September, when prosecutors slapped him, his father, Peter Coker Sr., […]
Reported by: Rohan Goswami and MacKenzie Sigalos Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment against a little-known crypto exchange called Bitzlato on Wednesday, alleging that it facilitated the laundering of $700 million in tainted crypto tied to the now-shuttered dark-web market Hydra, and millions more in ransomware proceeds. Blockchain data shows that tens of millions of dollars that passed […]
Reported by: Mack DeGeurin If you’ve sent a money transfer over $500 to another person in recent years, there’s a decent chance U.S. law enforcement agencies could know about it. That’s according to new documents unearthed by The American Civil Liberties Union and The Wall Street Journal that show more than 600 law enforcement agencies reportedly had access to […]
Reported by: Kevin Johnson The founder of the Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato was arrested early Wednesday in Miami in connection with a vast money laundering operation, accused of transmitting more than $700 million in illicit funds in the past four years. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monacosaid Anatoly Legkodymov, 40, a Russian national, oversaw a major “high-tech financial hub […]
Financial Crime News Briefs 