Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) will enforce new anti-money laundering (AML) regulations for cryptocurrency service providers starting November 30. The upcoming rules require crypto exchanges and other virtual asset service providers (VASPs) to register for AML compliance. AML Framework The deadline for mandatory AML registration for crypto companies was initially January 1, 2025, but the...Read More
A 16-year-old boy from East London is facing multiple terrorism charges for allegedly attempting to raise cryptocurrency for Al Qaeda. Prosecutors claim that the teenager offered his skills in digital currency and cybersecurity to aid the terrorist organization. Suspect Pleads Not Guilty to Charges The teenager, who cannot be named due to his age, has...Read More
Maximiliano Pilipis, a 53-year-old former resident of Noblesville, Indiana, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on five counts of money laundering and two counts of failing to file a tax return. The indictment alleges that Pilipis laundered substantial funds, including proceeds from Silk Road, through his operation of an unlicensed virtual currency exchange...Read More
A 21-year-old man from Lebanon, Indiana, has admitted to organizing a major cryptocurrency theft, stealing over $37 million from nearly 600 victims worldwide. Evan Frederick Light appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Veronica Duffy on September 30, 2024, where he pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud and Conspiracy to Launder Monetary Instruments. The Cyber...Read More
U.S. authorities have charged Russian citizens Sergey Sergeevich Ivanov and Timur Shakhmametov for allegedly operating a cryptocurrency money laundering service tied to Russian cybercrime. The U.S. Department of State has issued a $10 million bounty for information leading to the arrest or conviction of each. International Crackdown on Russian Cybercrime The United States Treasury, in...Read More
Ripple Labs’ Chief Legal Officer, Stuart Alderoty, has slammed U.S. regulators for unfairly targeting the cryptocurrency industry in money laundering investigations while allowing traditional banks to slip under the radar. In a recent X post, Alderoty pointed to the New York Federal Reserve’s reported role in enabling large-scale illicit transfers, including those tied to terrorist...Read More
A London resident has become the first person in the UK to be charged with operating a Bitcoin ATM without proper registration. Habibur Rahman, 37, of Langdon Crescent, East Ham, was arrested on April 28, 2023, following a raid by Kent Police at a gadget shop in Chatham. Medway Trader Faces Charges for Laundering £300,000...Read More
In a concerning trend, TRM Labs found that illicit activity at crypto ATMs is significantly higher than in the broader crypto industry. This has prompted law enforcement and regulators across the world to leverage blockchain intelligence to investigate fraud and financial crime involving these machines. Increasing Illicit Activity at Crypto ATMs According to the latest...Read More
On July 18, Judge Eric Vitaliano sentenced the founder of the Bitzlato cryptocurrency exchange to 18 months, the time he had already served, for running an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Anatoly Legkodymov pleaded guilty last year to running an operation that facilitated the concealment of over $700 million in proceeds from illegal gambling and drug transactions....Read More
United States prosecutors have alleged that two co-founders developed a crypto mining service called Samourai Wallet that conducted unlawful transactions worth $2 billion. The co-founders each face charges of money laundering and unlicensed money transmitting business, with the former carrying a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. Samourai Wallet Allegedly a ‘Safe Haven’ for Criminals...Read More
United States prosecutors have filed charges against a Nebraska man accused of a cryptojacking scheme that allegedly defrauded two cloud providers – one headquartered in Seattle and the other in Redmond, Washington – of $3.5 million. Prosecutors allege that the cryptojacking scheme yielded cryptocurrency mining valued at almost $1 million. Cryptojacker Charged in $3.5 Million...Read More
Crypto privacy protocol Railgun has denied accusations that it is being used by North Korea and other United States-sanctioned entities to launder digital assets. This development comes as the crypto privacy protocol nears $1B total volume. Railgun Denies Lazarus Group Association Responding to claims made by crypto reporter Colin Wu through an X post, Railgun...Read More
Jian Wen, a former takeaway worker residing in north London, was found guilty of one count of money laundering after she was found with Bitcoin worth over $2.5 billion (£2 billion) in 2018. Jian Wen assisted a Chinese fugitive known to Wen as Zhang Yadi, whose real name is Qian Zhimin, in laundering the BTC...Read More
Following his arrest nearly three years ago, a Jury in a US federal district court found Roman Sterlingov, operator of the crypto mixer Bitcoin Fog, guilty of a four-count charge regarding money laundering. The founder of Bitcoin Fog faces up to a maximum of 50 years in prison for all his charges. Sterlingov Convicted According...Read More
The U.S. Treasury Department has reported that despite the growing trend of illicit actors turning to cryptocurrencies for money laundering and financing, cold hard cash remains their preferred tool. In its 2024 National Risk Assessments on Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, and Proliferation Financing, the Treasury shed light on the various threats, vulnerabilities, and risks associated...Read More
According to Manhattan federal prosecutors, Mark Scott, a former partner at the U.S. law firm Locke Lord, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his involvement in a $400 million fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme. The sentencing took place on Thursday, and Scott was found guilty of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to...Read More
A father-son duo, residents of Maryland, have been sentenced for their involvement in a dark web drug trafficking and Bitcoin money laundering scheme. Joseph Farace, aged 72, was sentenced to 19 months in federal prison on January 8 for aiding his son, Ryan Farace, aged 38, in the laundering of Bitcoin proceeds from illicit drug...Read More
Crypto firms faced substantial regulatory action, collectively paying nearly $6 billion in fines primarily due to Anti-Money Laundering (AML) violations and deficiencies in customer checks last year. This marks a significant development, as crypto and fintech groups experienced higher fines for inadequate controls than the entire traditional financial system for the first time. Crypto-Related Fines...Read More
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon attacked Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on Wednesday, suggesting that they’re only useful for criminals and may as well be banned. “If I were the government, I’d close it down,” Dimon said of the crypto industry during remarks on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. Bitcoin, Banks, and Crime Dimon was one among...Read More
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has uncovered a money laundering syndicate, named the Long River syndicate, which is alleged to have utilized the Changjiang Currency Exchange as a front for laundering around $229 million in illicit funds over the past three years. As part of Operation Avarus-Nightwolf, a series of targeted raids were executed, confiscating...Read More
U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo confirmed in a speech on Friday that crypto plays a relevant, but still relatively minor role in global terrorist financing operations. His comments bear a stark contrast to claims from a massive lineup of congresspeople earlier this month, asserting that crypto is responsible for over $130 million in Hamas...Read More
Lesser-known crypto exchange, BKEX, claimed that some user funds on the platform are involved in money laundering. As a result, the platform is currently cooperating with the police to gather evidence and will suspend withdrawals for the regulatory investigation. In an announcement on May 29th, BKEX said it will continue to focus on restoring the...Read More
The authorities of Israel have reportedly seized around 190 cryptocurrency accounts at Binance since 2021, saying some of those were tied to the terrorist groups – Hamas and Islamic State. The exchange claimed that Reuters (the media outlet that informed about the confiscation) is “deliberately leaving out critical facts to fit their narrative.” It asserted...Read More
Two weeks ago, a little-known crypto exchange called Bitzlato was shut down in a raid coordinated by Europol and spearheaded by French and American authorities. Now, the company’s founder believes it will soon resume operations. A Coordinated Effort The sting operation was carried out in the two aforementioned countries, as well as Portugal, Spain, and...Read More
On Wednesday, the United States Department of Justice announced an international cryptocurrency enforcement action. The Department arrested the founder of BitZlato – a Chinese crypto exchange involved in servicing financial criminals The DOJ broke the news on Wednesday, alongside representatives from the FBI, OFAC, and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). OFAC administers the US...Read More
Hundreds of crypto-related cases are piling up at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)’s Criminal Investigation division. According to division chief Jim Lee, many of these cases will be made public soon, of which are largely related to tax. Evading Taxes With Crypto As reported by Bloomberg Tax, some of his division’s most common cases are...Read More
The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange – Binance – signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Financial Monitoring Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Over the course of the agreement, both parties expressed a mutual interest in creating a safe crypto environment in the Asian country and bringing down financial crime in the area. Binance’s...Read More
Law enforcement agents from Hengyang (a city in the southern Chinese province Hunan) have reportedly busted a criminal group that employed cryptocurrencies to launder 40 billion yuan (approximately $5.6 billion). Over the past several months, China’s authorities halted numerous similar schemes, arresting thousands of people. The ‘Hundred-day Action’ According to a local coverage, the Chinese...Read More
The blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis announced on Thursday that it has successfully assisted law enforcement in seizing $30 million in crypto stolen by North Korean hackers of the Lazarus group. The ill-gotten proceeds were connected to the infamous Axie Infinity hack in March – the largest hack in decentralized finance (DeFi) to date. How the...Read More
Israeli authorities have arrested three individuals suspected of defrauding the French state treasury. The undercover investigation was carried out jointly by the Israel police and the Israel Tax Authority over the last few months. Foreign investigative agencies – Europol and the French Police – also cooperated. As per Reuters, the investigators are looking into a...Read More
