Man
Professional
- Messages
- 3,046
- Reaction score
- 570
- Points
- 113
The NCA announced the exposure of Russian-linked cash-out operators, Russian cybercriminals and oligarchs. According to investigators, all operations were carried out through the TGR Group and the related Smart Group, headed by a Ukrainian and an American, respectively.
The special operation to catch the launderers was called "Destabilisation". The NCA learned that a whole network of mules was operating in London and other British cities, working in conjunction with the two aforementioned companies.
The scheme was as follows: customers in one country transferred funds in one currency (for example, in crypto), for which they received cash in other countries. In this way, the cashing service laundered $1kkk.
In particular, the Garantex exchange, which is considered one of the wallets of the Hydra marketplace in the West, and extortionists from Ryuk were found to be connected to TGR Group and Smart Group. In addition, there are known cases when they tried to buy real estate in the UK with laundered money. At the same time, the entire network covered many countries around the world, and the branches of the companies legally operated both in Europe and the Middle East. Over the past few years, more than $20 million has been seized from the group's top managers. 84 people were arrested, many of them have already received real terms.
But the real owners of the companies and their closest associates remain at large. Their names were revealed by the US Treasury Department, which announced the introduction of sanctions against the head of TGR Group, Ukrainian George Rossi, his assistant Elena Chirkinyan, CEO of Smart Group Ekaterina Zhdanova, and Latvian citizen Andrejs Bradens.
The investigation managed to establish that these people were involved not only in cashing out in the UK and other countries, but also in circumventing sanctions. In particular, with the help of two companies, Russia allegedly paid for the supply of developments and weapons that were used in the military conflict with Ukraine.
The special operation to catch the launderers was called "Destabilisation". The NCA learned that a whole network of mules was operating in London and other British cities, working in conjunction with the two aforementioned companies.
The scheme was as follows: customers in one country transferred funds in one currency (for example, in crypto), for which they received cash in other countries. In this way, the cashing service laundered $1kkk.
In particular, the Garantex exchange, which is considered one of the wallets of the Hydra marketplace in the West, and extortionists from Ryuk were found to be connected to TGR Group and Smart Group. In addition, there are known cases when they tried to buy real estate in the UK with laundered money. At the same time, the entire network covered many countries around the world, and the branches of the companies legally operated both in Europe and the Middle East. Over the past few years, more than $20 million has been seized from the group's top managers. 84 people were arrested, many of them have already received real terms.
But the real owners of the companies and their closest associates remain at large. Their names were revealed by the US Treasury Department, which announced the introduction of sanctions against the head of TGR Group, Ukrainian George Rossi, his assistant Elena Chirkinyan, CEO of Smart Group Ekaterina Zhdanova, and Latvian citizen Andrejs Bradens.
The investigation managed to establish that these people were involved not only in cashing out in the UK and other countries, but also in circumventing sanctions. In particular, with the help of two companies, Russia allegedly paid for the supply of developments and weapons that were used in the military conflict with Ukraine.
