ChainCatcher News, the U.S. Treasury Department announced on Tuesday that it has taken action to shut down a North Korean cryptocurrency money laundering network that has laundered millions of dollars for North Korea, a major player in global crypto crime.According to a press release from the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a shell company based in the UAE named Green Alpine Trading, LLC was found to be exchanging cryptocurrency for cash, providing funding to North Korea. The U.S. government's sanctions office has blacklisted the company and sanctioned two Chinese nationals who have been involved in the network since 2022.The press release stated that the UAE cooperated with the U.S. in this operation. It is currently unclear what has happened to the two sanctioned Chinese nationals—Lu Huaying and Zhang Jian. According to the press release, they collaborated with North Korea's "agent" Sim Hyon Sop to engage in illegal activities.

ChainCatcher news, according to the Financial Times, the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) has announced the successful dismantling of a large-scale cryptocurrency money laundering network spanning London, Moscow, and Dubai. The case primarily involves two companies: Smart and TGR, which acted as financial intermediaries, providing cross-border money transfer services for cash-rich criminals and sanctioned individuals worldwide through cryptocurrency.The investigation revealed that this network provided services to criminal organizations, ransomware gangs, and Russian espionage activities, including the Kinahan drug trafficking group, from the end of 2022 to the summer of 2023. Its operation involved couriers collecting cash in the UK and elsewhere, exchanging it for cryptocurrency primarily in USDT, and then laundering the money through a network of companies, providing equivalent funds in other countries.Ekaterina Zhdanova, the 38-year-old owner of Smart, a resident of Moscow, has been accused of transferring over $100 million to an unnamed sanctioned oligarch in the UAE, and is currently under U.S. sanctions and detained in France. The money laundering network collected cash at 55 different locations across England, Scotland, Wales, and the Channel Islands in just four months, serving at least 22 criminal groups.NCA's action director Rob Jones stated that this is the agency's most significant anti-money laundering operation to date. Law enforcement has arrested 84 individuals and seized a total of £20 million in cash and cryptocurrency. The U.S. Treasury has imposed economic sanctions on five individuals and several companies involved. The operation was assisted by the U.S. FBI, DEA, as well as police forces from France and Ireland.

ChainCatcher news, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, Daren Li, a resident with dual citizenship of China and Saint Kitts and Nevis, has pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to commit money laundering for his involvement in a money laundering scheme related to a cryptocurrency investment scam that generated millions of dollars in proceeds. Daren Li and his co-conspirators used a network of shell companies and international bank accounts to launder over $73 million from victims of the cryptocurrency investment fraud. Daren Li is scheduled to be sentenced on March 3, 2025. Li faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

ChainCatcher news, the Brazilian Federal Police launched "Operation Alcacaria" this Wednesday, aimed at combating operators who provide money laundering services using cryptocurrencies. In addition, the police are tracking and investigating exchanges that collaborate with these operators to provide liquidity for their money laundering activities. However, the names of those involved have not yet been released.This operation issued 62 search warrants, 13 arrest warrants, and seized funds from the involved entities' banks.

ChainCatcher News: A darknet drug trafficking group in Texas, USA, has been sentenced for money laundering involving cryptocurrency, with six members receiving probationary sentences ranging from 24 to 84 months. The gang operated under the name "Loverbois," selling nearly 12 kilograms of methamphetamine and laundering up to $50,000 per month through cryptocurrency from July 2019 to December 2020.This ruling stems from a joint investigation by multiple agencies, including the FBI, DEA, and the United States Postal Inspection Service, as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).

ChainCatcher news, according to the Sing Tao Daily, the Criminal Division of the Wong Tai Sin Police District in Hong Kong conducted an enforcement operation codenamed "Joint Fight" from September 19 to 26, successfully dismantling a group that used cryptocurrency for money laundering, arresting 25 individuals involved in 39 fraud cases, with losses exceeding 7 million HKD.The police stated that the 25 arrested individuals (18 men and 7 women, aged 19 to 65) included the mastermind of the group, three key members, and 21 puppet account holders. The police seized more than 20 electronic devices and two cryptocurrency cold wallets.The group had been operating since May 2023, using puppet information to open bank and cryptocurrency exchange accounts, obtaining funds through various types of scams, and converting the money into cryptocurrency via P2P transactions.The 39 fraud cases involved mainly online investment, job-seeking, and fake customer service scams, affecting 39 victims (23 men and 16 women, aged 19 to 72), with the largest single loss amounting to 1.6 million HKD.

ChainCatcher news, according to a briefing from the Hong Kong police, the Hong Kong police recently launched an enforcement operation codenamed "Double Gun," breaking up a money laundering group related to cryptocurrency in a commercial building in Tsuen Wan, arresting 3 men and 1 woman.The criminal group actively promoted through social media platforms, text messages, and mobile applications, offering enticing deals such as "new member registration discounts" or "cash in, cryptocurrency out." Investigations revealed that the group has collected over 600 million Hong Kong dollars in funds to date.

ChainCatcher news, the Brazilian Federal Police recently launched "Operation Nifheim," successfully dismantling three criminal organizations that used cryptocurrency for money laundering. The operation took place in Caxias do Sul, São Paulo, Fortaleza, and Brasília, resulting in the issuance of 8 arrest warrants and 19 search and seizure warrants.Since 2021, the involved gangs have laundered over $9.7 billion through cryptocurrency, with funds primarily sourced from drug trafficking and smuggling. The Brazilian Federal Court has frozen $1.58 billion in assets and seized multiple vehicles and real estate. Police revealed that these gangs used shell companies to conceal the source of funds, which were subsequently transferred to locations such as the United States, the UAE, Hong Kong, and China.

ChainCatcher News, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced that Geoffrey K. Auyeung, a resident of Newcastle, Washington, has been charged in connection with an alleged cryptocurrency money laundering scheme, facing "conspiracy to commit money laundering and nine counts of money laundering through concealment or expenditure."The DOJ stated that Auyeung, who was arrested on August 12, posed as a custodial agent for oil and gas investments to defraud investors, subsequently transferring client funds to accounts under his control. "Once the funds entered accounts controlled by Auyeung, the money would quickly be transferred to other accounts, moved overseas, or used to purchase cryptocurrencies such as BTC, USDT, USDC, and ETH through cryptocurrency exchanges like Gemini, Bitstamp, and Coinbase." Investigators from the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) have traced $64 million flowing into 74 different bank accounts linked to Auyeung. The indictment seeks the forfeiture of approximately $2.3 million seized from Auyeung's bank accounts. "Millions converted into cryptocurrency from telecom fraud proceeds have been frozen and are awaiting seizure. HSI has identified 22 victims with total losses of $7.7 million. However, law enforcement believes there may be more victims," the DOJ noted.

ChainCatcher news, according to DL News, TRM Labs has disclosed that it assisted Argentine law enforcement in the arrest of a Russian citizen.It is reported that this individual is involved in a multi-million dollar money laundering operation. The 29-year-old suspect accepted cryptocurrency benefits from illegal actors, including the hacker group Lazarus Group. Additionally, the suspect used a Telegram bot to exchange rubles, USDT, euros, and dollars for Argentine pesos. During the arrest, police seized over $120,000 worth of cryptocurrency and an additional $15 million from properties controlled by the suspect.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, the police in São Paulo, Brazil, dismantled a money laundering scheme managed by the drug gang "First Capital Command" (PCC) that operated through a company acting as a cryptocurrency exchange.According to CNN, the company's trading volume was approximately 500 million reais (89 million USD). During the raid, police seized checks worth 55 million reais (8.9 million USD) at the company's headquarters.The raid was carried out based on an order received by the São Paulo police on Tuesday, involving 20 arrest warrants and 60 search and seizure warrants. Brazilian courts also froze assets of over 8 billion reais (1.427 billion USD) belonging to those involved. According to a report by The Economist, PCC is the largest gang in Latin America, with nearly 40,000 members and about 60,000 contractors.

ChainCatcher news, the criminal gang "Tren De Aragua" from Venezuela has been designated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as a transnational organization engaged in illegal activities such as kidnapping, human trafficking, and extortion. The U.S. Treasury also stated that the organization has, to some extent, utilized cryptocurrency to launder its criminal activities.

ChainCatcher news, Malaysian law enforcement recently arrested ten suspects allegedly involved in money laundering using cryptocurrency, with assets worth over $7.7 million seized, approximately $10.8 million in bank accounts frozen, and law enforcement also confiscated luxury watches worth over $3.9 million, 18 luxury cars, motorcycles, and handbags, as well as cash totaling $106,800. Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain revealed that the eight men and two women arrested were aged between 28 and 51, and they used unregistered money changers and cryptocurrency exchanges to transfer funds from illegal activities from abroad to Malaysia. It is reported that they have been detained under Section 4(1) of Malaysia's Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act.

ChainCatcher news, Venezuela's Attorney General Tarek William Saab announced the second wave of detentions related to a cryptocurrency money laundering case, which stems from unregistered oil sales conducted with various currencies and cryptocurrencies.Former president of the state oil company PDVSA Tareck El Aissami, former Minister of Economy Simon Alejandro Zerpa, and entrepreneur Samark Lopez have been arrested, accused of laundering money through exchanges such as Kraken and investing in cryptocurrency mining farms.

According to ChainCatcher news, as reported by CoinDesk, the legal team of Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm filed a motion on Friday to dismiss charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and violations of sanctions. North Korean hackers and other organizations have used Tornado Cash for money laundering. The documents state that Storm did not collaborate with these organizations but merely released code that anyone could use.The documents note: "Storm is a developer, and the only agreement he reached with members of his company in the U.S. was to create software solutions that provide financial privacy protection for legitimate cryptocurrency users, which is not a crime." Storm faces a charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering and a charge of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, both of which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Additionally, he is charged with conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, which also carries a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison.

ChainCatcher news, according to CGTN Europe, court records show that a couple accused of a $4.5 billion cryptocurrency money laundering case related to the Bitfinex hack has reached a plea agreement with U.S. prosecutors. (Source link)