{"id":129277,"date":"2025-05-15T03:31:29","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T03:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/?p=129277"},"modified":"2025-05-15T03:31:29","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T03:31:29","slug":"europol-helps-dismantle-23m-mafia-crypto-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/?p=129277","title":{"rendered":"Europol helps dismantle $23M \u2018mafia crypto bank\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Source: Cointelegraph.com NewsEuropean law enforcement in January arrested 17 suspects of a \u201cmafia crypto bank\u201d  who are said to have laundered over 21 million euros ($23.5 million) in crypto for criminal entities in China and the Middle East.<br \/>\nThe money laundering services were allegedly carried out on behalf of other criminal networks engaged in migrant smuggling and drug trafficking, Europol said in a May 14 statement.<br \/>\nSpanish authorities said the criminal organization ran a secret informal money transfer system called hawala and was often compensated in crypto.<br \/>\nA total of 17 individuals were arrested \u2014 15 in Spain, one in Austria and one in Belgium \u2014 while 4.5 million euros ($5 million) worth of items were seized, including cash, crypto, 18 vehicles, four shotguns and several electronic devices.<br \/>\nOf the 4.5 million euros, 183,000 euros ($205,000) came as crypto. Another 421,000 euros ($471,000) in cash was seized from 77 bank accounts tied to the criminal organization, which one Spanish news outlet described as a \u201cmafia crypto bank.\u201d<br \/>\nLuxury bags, watches and even cigars worth 876,000 euros ($980,000) were also seized, Spanish officials said.<br \/>\nScenes of European law enforcement efforts and assets seized from the criminal organization. Source: EuropolThe arrests and asset seizures took place in January 2025, across Spain, Austria and Belgium, Europol said. More than 250 officers were involved, Spanish authorities added.<br \/>\nMost of those arrested have already been detained<br \/>\nOf the 17 arrested, 15 have already been imprisoned as alleged perpetrators of the crimes linked to the organization.\u00a0<br \/>\nMost of those arrested were of Chinese and Syrian nationality, targeting clients in China and the Arabic-speaking criminal world.<br \/>\nRelated: Crypto exchange CEO\u2019s daughter fights off brazen kidnappers in Paris<br \/>\nThe criminal organization tried to cover up its money laundering activities by operating a remittance business, and even advertised those services on social media.<br \/>\nThe investigation was led by a court in Almer\u00eda, Spain, which supported Europol\u2019s efforts to coordinate Spanish and Belgian officials to dismantle the criminal organization.<br \/>\nBlockchain forensics firm Chainalysis estimates that illicit crypto transactions totaled $51.3 billion in 2024, marking an 11.3% year-on-year increase.<br \/>\nMagazine: Japanese porn star\u2019s coin red flags, Alibaba-linked L2 runs at 100K TPS<a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/europol-dismantle-mafia-crypto-bank-17-arrested?utm_source=rss_feed&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"feedzy-rss-link-icon\" rel=\"noopener\">Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: Cointelegraph.com NewsEuropean law enforcement in January arrested 17 suspects of a \u201cmafia crypto bank\u201d who are said to have laundered over 21 million euros ($23.5 million) in crypto for&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129277"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=129277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129277\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=129277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=129277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=129277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}