Maximilien De Hoop Cartier, a descendant of the family famous for their French luxury goods Cartier, has been indicted for his participation in a network that allegedly used several shell companies to launder drug trafficking money proceeds using USDT. Cartier and five Colombian individuals allegedly conspired to directly launder .5 million and used these shell […]
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OFAC Sanctions Russian National Accused of Using Virtual Currency to Launder Money
According to the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Russian national Ekaterina Zhdanova has been sanctioned as punishment for using virtual currency to launder money for designated Russian elites. OFAC said Zhdanova’s properties and interests in the United States are now either blocked or must be reported.
Russian Elites Seeking to Evade U.S. Sanctions
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s OFAC announced on Nov. 3 that it had sanctioned a Russian national it accuses of using virtual currency to launder money for Russian elites. According to OFAC, the action is in line with the Group of Seven Countries (G7)’s goal of going after sanction busters who have been helping sanctioned Russian oligarchs.
As per the statement, the Russian national, Ekaterina Zhdanova (Zhdanova), is accused of helping an unnamed client obfuscate the source of .3 million that was funneled into Western Europe. By taking such a step, Zhdanova helped the sanctioned Russian individual evade the sanctions, OFAC added.
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Commenting on Zhdanova’s addition to the list of sanctioned Russian nationals, Brian E. Nelson, the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said:
We remain focused on safeguarding the U.S. and international financial system against those who seek to exploit this technology, among other illicit finance risks in the virtual assets ecosystem.
As a result of her designation, OFAC said Zhdanova’s properties and interests in the United States are either blocked or must be reported. According to OFAC, Zhdanova’s activities undermine the effectiveness of multilateral U.S. and international sanctions which are intended to “impose costs on Russia for its unprovoked war.”
What are your thoughts on this story? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Cybercriminals Use Dexs and Crypto Cross-Chain Services to Launder $7 Billion — Elliptic
According to the findings of a research study by Elliptic, cybercriminals are believed to have used crypto cross-chain bridges and coin swap services to launder billion worth of “illicit or high-risk funds.” The Lazarus Group, a cybercriminal organization said to be backed by North Korea, is “responsible for 0 million of cross-chain crime.”
Bad Actors Exploiting Dexs and Cross-Chain Bridges
In the period between July 2022 and July 2023, cross-chain and cross-asset services were used to “launder billion worth of illicit or high-risk funds,” the latest research by the blockchain analytics firm Elliptic has shown. The value of crypto assets laundered via such channels exceeds the firm’s prediction of .5 billion by the end of 2023.
In a press statement issued on Oct. 5, Elliptic said the latest value of crypto assets laundered via decentralized exchanges, cross-chain bridges and coin swap services dwarfs the .1 billion recorded a year earlier. Commenting on the findings of its latest study, Tom Robinson, the co-founder and chief scientist at Elliptic, said:
“Now, with the innovative insights from our Holistic blockchain analytics capabilities released last year, we’ve seen that cross-chain crime continues to grow, as bad actors continue to exploit services such as decentralized exchanges (dexs), cross-chain bridges, and coin swap services.”
Sanctioned Entities Hold 80 Assets Across 26 Blockchains
According to the statement, the Lazarus Group, a cybercriminal organization said to be backed by North Korea, is responsible for 0 million of cross-chain crime. It added that sanctioned entities now “hold over 80 different assets across more than 26 blockchains.” As has been reported by Bitcoin.com News in the past few months, the Lazarus Group continues to be pointed to in high profile hacking incidents. In one such incident, the hackers are thought to have made off with digital assets worth 0 million.
The blockchain analytics firm said it has noticed that cybercriminals including the Lazarus Group now attempt to obfuscate the movement of the funds before cashing out. The criminals achieve this by using what Elliptic refers to as more complex cross-chain methods. These methods include derivatives trading and limit orders.
What are your thoughts on this story? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Treasury Sanctions Ethereum Wallet Used by Sinaloa Cartel to Launder Fentanyl Financing
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned an Ethereum wallet used by the Sinaloa Cartel to launder money from fentanyl sales in the U.S. Mario Alberto Jimenez Castro, an accused money launderer for the cartel’s Los Chapitos faction, allegedly directed the use of cryptocurrency and wire transfers to pay cartel leaders in Mexico, according to OFAC.
U.S. Treasury Targets Sinaloa Cartel Member’s Ether Wallet in Crackdown on Fentanyl Distribution
OFAC said Tuesday it sanctioned ten individuals, including several Sinaloa Cartel affiliates and fugitives, for contributing to the international proliferation of illicit drugs. In addition to sanctioning people, OFAC designated the Ethereum wallet with the address “0x9c2” used by Jimenez Castro.
“Jimenez Castro has directed U.S.-based couriers to pick up cash in the United States and deposit it into various virtual currency wallets for payment directly to the Chapitos and for reinvestment in fentanyl production,” OFAC said.
The Sinaloa Cartel is considered one of the most powerful drug trafficking groups in Mexico and is a major supplier of fentanyl in the U.S. OFAC said the sanctions target members of Los Chapitos, a faction run by the sons of imprisoned Sinaloa leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
OFAC said the sanctions demonstrate “the [Biden] Administration’s strengthened approach to saving lives by disrupting the trafficking of illicit fentanyl and its precursors into American communities.”
The sanctions freeze any U.S. assets held by the Ethereum wallet and prohibit Americans from conducting transactions with the wallet. OFAC said it will continue targeting foreign drug traffickers contributing to the opioid epidemic through sanctions.
What do you think about OFAC sanctioning an ethereum wallet allegedly used by Sinaloa Cartel leader? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
North Korean Hackers Use Russian-Based Exchanges to Launder Stolen Crypto, Report
Hacking groups linked to North Korea are increasingly using exchanges in Russia to launder crypto, Chainalysis revealed. The shift in their strategy, registered by the blockchain forensics firm, coincides with a drop in the value of the stolen cryptocurrency this year in comparison with the record-breaking 2022.
Chainalysis Report Alleges New Alliance Between North Korean and Russian Cybercriminals
Onchain data examined by crypto analytics company Chainalysis suggests that hackers associated with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) are more and more often using cryptocurrency exchanges based in the Russian Federation to launder illicit digital assets.
The release of the report coincides with a summit of the leaders of the two sanctioned nations, Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin, who met for suspected arms talks. It also comes as U.N. sanctions monitors are drawing attention to Pyongyang’s changing tactics in cyberattacks against crypto and financial exchanges seeking to obtain funds for its nuclear weapons and missile programs.
Chainalysis provides an example with the recent transfer of cryptocurrency worth .9 million stolen from Harmony Protocol to a Russian exchange known for processing illicit transactions. The company also said it has evidence showing that North Korean entities have been using this platform and other services in Russia to launder money in the past couple of years and emphasized:
This latest action marks a significant escalation in the partnership between the cyber underworlds of these two nations.
The authors of the report also pointed out that while the mainstream centralized exchanges previously used by DPRK hackers typically cooperate with international efforts, Russia’s cryptocurrency exchanges and law enforcement agencies “have a track record of non-compliance, significantly reducing the chance of asset recovery.”
Chainalysis data shows that the value of stolen cryptocurrency associated with North Korean hacking groups exceeds 0.4 million so far in 2023, compared to .65 billion last year. The analytics firm said, however, that while North Korea-linked hackers are likely going to steal much less cryptocurrency than they did in 2022, it should be noted that last year’s figures were extraordinarily high.
“With the total amount of cryptocurrency stolen estimated at .54 billion, DPRK continues to be an incubator for hacking activities and remains one of the largest active threats in the cybercrime landscape,” Chainalysis concluded. According to its estimates, while their share has decreased, groups associated with the communist state still account for 29.7% of the cryptocurrency stolen through hacks in 2023.
Do you think Russian and North Korean cybercrime actors are cooperating to launder cryptocurrency stolen by DPRK-linked hackers? Tell us in the comments section below.
OneCoin Fugitive Cryptoqueen Allegedly Paid $50M to Lawyer to Launder Funds
n Former Locke Lord LLP partner allegedly received million to launder 0 million for OneCoin co-founder Ruja Ignatovan
CryptScout #BitFeed RSS – Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency News 24/7
OneCoin Fugitive Cryptoqueen Allegedly Paid $50 M to Lawyer to Launder Funds
n Former Locke Lord LLP partner allegedly received million to launder 0 million for OneCoin co-founder Ruja Ignatovan
CryptScout #BitFeed RSS – Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency News 24/7
British Man Charged With Using Bitcoin to Launder 11.5 Million Euros
A British man has been arrested on money laundering charges in Holland. He is alleged to have been running a “money cleaning” service for clients trading on the dark web between the years 2014 and 2016. The Dutch Public Prosecutor demanded on Wednesday that he serves at least five years in prison.
Funds Likely Came From Illicit Sources
According to NL Times, the laundered money is thought to have come from various dark web dealings in illicit goods. The man accused is a 38-year-old British man living in Amsterdam. It’s alleged that he was responsible for “cleaning” over 11.5 million euros during the years he was active. It’s thought that he received Bitcoin from dealers of narcotics and other contraband items and sold them using his own bank account. He then withdrew the funds in local currency and returned them, minus a cut for himself, to the original party.
The Public Prosecutor alleges that the man took an “unusually high” percentage of the funds. It’s thought that he charged between five and eight percent for carrying some of the burdens of risk for his clients. The accused and his spouse were living predominantly off their ill-gotten gains. The Prosecutor added that neither of them earns much in the way of legal income.
Along with the charges of money laundering, the suspect is also thought to have been previously cultivating cannabis illegally. Photos on his computer of large cannabis plantations at his previous home support this. The Prosecutor stated:
“He thought he had seen a gap in the market and jumped into it… He started with a cannabis plantation, sold the harvest on the dark web and was paid in bitcoins. Soon he noticed that he no longer needed the weed to make a substantial turnover and a fine profit.”
The man accused is adamant that all those he dealt with over the years 2014-16 were law-abiding citizens. He refutes the allegation that they were involved in any illicit trade. It’s thought that the court will rule on the matter in early March.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have long been associated with money laundering. However, just because something illegal is possible using a certain tool doesn’t mean the tool ought to be forever tarred with that brush. It’s possible to murder someone with a lump hammer. Are all lump hammers associated with murder? No, of course they’re not.
Critics of Bitcoin love to play the money laundering card whenever they can. The fact is there are plenty more examples of money laundering that takes place using other forms of currency. Recently, US Bankcorp were forced to pay a hefty fine for the very same crime. Also, one of Bitcoin’s fiercest naysayers, Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase, has repeatedly stated that crypto is only good for criminal use. This includes money laundering. Just weeks after making his famous “fraud” remarks JP Morgan themselves were charged with money laundering. Evidently, current money laundering laws are failing and it’s a cop-out to blame an innovative form of currency for their shortcomings.
The post British Man Charged With Using Bitcoin to Launder 11.5 Million Euros appeared first on NewsBTC.
Treasury crackdown on Bitcoin over concerns it is used to launder money and dodge tax
Ministers are launching a crackdown on the virtual currency Bitcoin amid growing concern it is being used to launder money and dodge tax.
BitNewz.net