CoinVoice has recently learned that, according to the Financial Times, the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) announced the successful dismantling of a large-scale cryptocurrency money laundering network operating across London, Moscow, and Dubai. The case mainly involves two companies: Smart and TGR, which acted as financial intermediaries, providing cross-border fund transfer services for cash-rich criminals and sanctioned individuals worldwide through cryptocurrencies.
Investigations show that the network provided services to criminal organizations, ransomware gangs, and Russian espionage activities, including the Kinahan drug trafficking group, from late 2022 to the summer of 2023. Its operation involved couriers collecting cash in places like the UK in exchange for cryptocurrencies primarily in USDT, which were then laundered through a corporate network and provided equivalent funds in other countries.
Ekaterina Zhdanova, the 38-year-old owner of Smart Company and a resident of Moscow, has been accused of transferring over $100 million to an unnamed sanctioned oligarch in the UAE and has now been sanctioned by the U.S. and detained in France. This money laundering network collected cash at 55 different locations across England, Scotland, Wales, and the Channel Islands in just 4 months, servicing at least 22 criminal groups.
NCA Action Director Rob Jones stated that this is the agency's most significant anti-money laundering operation to date. So far, law enforcement has arrested 84 people and seized a total of £20 million in cash and cryptocurrencies. The U.S. Treasury has imposed economic sanctions on 5 individuals and several companies involved. The operation received assistance from the U.S. FBI, DEA, as well as police from France and Ireland. [Original link]