Brazilian police seize $33M in crypto money laundering probe

Brazil’s civil police seized $33 million worth of crypto amid an investigation into money laundering carried out through cryptocurrency exchanges.

Brazilian police seize $33M in crypto money laundering probe

According to the report, police carried out six search warrants, after which the Brazilian judiciary authorized freezing accounts and seizing assets from two individuals and 17 companies. The investigation found that crypto exchanges acquired and sold bitcoin to fictitious companies fabricated to facilitate their creators’ access to the banking system.

During the five-month period, one of the suspicious exchanges transacted $1.93 million in digital assets with six bogus companies, while eight other bogus companies acquired $2.9 million in cryptocurrencies in the same period.

The exchanges did not verify the legitimacy of the entities they dealt with, the Brazilian police stated adding that the exchanges knowingly operated on behalf of a criminal organization dedicated to laundering money through cryptocurrencies.

According to the investigation, the fund was sent to the companies situated outside the country and subsequently repatriated by simulating sales or service-provision transactions.

The investigations indicated that the companies conducted large transactions among themselves and then routed money to intermediaries, who were responsible for the acquisition of digital assets and the delivery of a hash code to their clients.

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