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The European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO), headed by Laura Codruţa Kövesi, reports that as part of today's "Moby Dick" campaign, on November 14, the police and the prosecutor's office are conducting 160 searches in more than ten EU countries, including Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Spain, as well as in countries outside the EU. In total, 195 people and more than 400 companies are under investigation. 43 suspects have been detained.
The European prosecutor's office is investigating VAT fraud in the amount of 520 million euros in the field of trade in IT products and electronic devices in the EU with the "active participation of several mafia groups." Prosecutors seized assets and money worth €520 million to compensate for the damage caused to the EU and national budgets. In Italy alone, 129 bank accounts were seized and 192 properties were confiscated, as well as 44 luxury cars and yachts.
The level of sophistication and effectiveness of this criminal group, which commits carousel VAT fraud, is unprecedented. From 2020 to 2023, the group issued invoices for the sale of AirPods, laptops and other electronics worth more than 1.3 billion euros, according to the European Prosecutor's Office (EPPO).
"Moby Dick is a landmark investigation for EPPO. We have long sounded the alarm about the active involvement of dangerous organised criminal groups in the embezzlement of the EU budget. In addition to the enormous damage they cause, we have warned of the threat that their activities pose to our internal security. Moby Dick shows that there are no two separate criminal worlds. A world of really dangerous criminals who are engaged in drug smuggling and human trafficking, on the one hand, and a world of white-collar criminals who are "only" engaged in corruption and money laundering, on the other," said European Prosecutor Laura Kövesi.
The suspects are believed to have orchestrated a sophisticated carousel scheme of value-added tax (VAT) fraud, mainly on electronic goods such as wireless headphones and laptops. VAT
fraud is a highly sophisticated form of tax fraud that relies on the abuse of VAT rules for cross-border transactions. VAT scammers make billions of euros in profits by avoiding paying VAT or fraudulently claiming VAT refunds from national authorities.
Carousel VAT scams take advantage of the EU's rules on cross-border transactions between its member states as they are exempt from VAT. Based on evidence gathered by law enforcement agencies, the suspects set up companies in Italy and other EU member states, as well as in non-EU countries. This allowed them to trade commodities through a fraudulent chain of missing traders, who then disappeared without meeting their tax obligations. Other companies in the fraudulent chain subsequently claimed VAT refunds from the national tax authorities.
The European prosecutor's office is investigating VAT fraud in the amount of 520 million euros in the field of trade in IT products and electronic devices in the EU with the "active participation of several mafia groups." Prosecutors seized assets and money worth €520 million to compensate for the damage caused to the EU and national budgets. In Italy alone, 129 bank accounts were seized and 192 properties were confiscated, as well as 44 luxury cars and yachts.
The level of sophistication and effectiveness of this criminal group, which commits carousel VAT fraud, is unprecedented. From 2020 to 2023, the group issued invoices for the sale of AirPods, laptops and other electronics worth more than 1.3 billion euros, according to the European Prosecutor's Office (EPPO).
"Moby Dick is a landmark investigation for EPPO. We have long sounded the alarm about the active involvement of dangerous organised criminal groups in the embezzlement of the EU budget. In addition to the enormous damage they cause, we have warned of the threat that their activities pose to our internal security. Moby Dick shows that there are no two separate criminal worlds. A world of really dangerous criminals who are engaged in drug smuggling and human trafficking, on the one hand, and a world of white-collar criminals who are "only" engaged in corruption and money laundering, on the other," said European Prosecutor Laura Kövesi.
The suspects are believed to have orchestrated a sophisticated carousel scheme of value-added tax (VAT) fraud, mainly on electronic goods such as wireless headphones and laptops. VAT
fraud is a highly sophisticated form of tax fraud that relies on the abuse of VAT rules for cross-border transactions. VAT scammers make billions of euros in profits by avoiding paying VAT or fraudulently claiming VAT refunds from national authorities.
Carousel VAT scams take advantage of the EU's rules on cross-border transactions between its member states as they are exempt from VAT. Based on evidence gathered by law enforcement agencies, the suspects set up companies in Italy and other EU member states, as well as in non-EU countries. This allowed them to trade commodities through a fraudulent chain of missing traders, who then disappeared without meeting their tax obligations. Other companies in the fraudulent chain subsequently claimed VAT refunds from the national tax authorities.
