German and US authorities, supported by Europol, seized Bitcoins worth around $46 million In a coordinated international takedown of ChipMixer, a darknet cryptocurrency “mixing” service responsible for laundering more than $3 billion worth of cryptocurrency since 2017. The service laundered the money from illicit activities, including ransomware, darknet markets, fraud, cryptocurrency heists, and other hacking schemes.
Money laundering is an enormous problem for societies and economies. More than two trillion US dollars are laundered every year. Economic fraud has increased by more than 37% in high-growth markets in the last twelve months. Munich-based fintech Hawk AI, which supports banks and financial service providers in the fight against financial crime, is raising €17 million in a new Series B financing.
Amid the official announcement that the Bulgarian crypto lender is under investigation, Nexo insists that it has followed AML and KYC rules. Crypto lender Nexo has become the subject of a large-scale investigation in Bulgaria as prosecutors probe possible money laundering, tax violations, computer fraud, and other crimes.
The largest U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase has accepted a multi-million dollar fine for allegedly being too lax in its anti-money laundering precautions in New York State. The company will pay a total of $100 million (€94 million) as part of a settlement, the New York financial regulator DFS announced yesterday. The authority added a penalty of $50 million to Coinbase. The group will invest a further $50 million in improving its control mechanisms.
The European Funds Recovery Initiative (EFRI) filed a criminal complaint against Payvision and its former management, Rudolf Booker, Gijs op de Weegh, Cheng Liem Li. According to EFRI, the Amsterdam-based Fintech and licensed payment processor Payvision has been knowingly and willingly facilitating cybercrime and scams. Thus, Payvision would be liable for the victims' losses and has to refund them, EFRI principal Elfriede Sixt explains.
Fintech Leonteq defends itself against accusations from the media that the company has enabled money laundering and tax evasion. Derivatives provider Leonteq has again...
Reuters published an interesting report about the world's largest crypto platform Binance. According to the report, Binance processed transactions totaling at least $2.35 billion stemming from hacks, investment frauds, and illegal drug sales between 2017 and 2021. Allegedly, in 2019 Binance processed criminal funds totaling $770 million.
