Brazil Stops a $9.7 Billion Crypto Money Laundering Operation

The Federal Police of Brazil has launched “Niflheim” to stop using cryptocurrency to gain funds through illicit activities and conceal the source of funds from criminals.

This operation led to

• 8 arrest warrants
• 19 search and seizure orders in different cities: Caxias do Sul, Sao Paulo, Fortaleza, and Brasilia.

Criminals have managed to launder money “over $9 billion” by adding illegal money into cryptocurrency and transferring it to foreign countries to blend with clean money criminals since 2021, stated media sources.

Highlights of the Brazilian Police’s Action Plan

The Brazilian Federal Police has demolished three organizations linked to crypto money laundering operations. The police, in collaboration  with Brazil’s tax monitoring organization “the Federal Revenue Service,” conducted the “Niflheim operation.”

As a result of this, “issuance of eight arrest warrants and 19 search and seizure orders has been conducted in the cities of Caxias do Sul, Sao Paulo, Fortaleza, and Brasilia” against these criminal groups.

Implementations of Regulatory Measures

The Federal Court of Brazil has taken more steps towards combating money laundering in cryptocurrency as:

• It has frozen the “$1.58 billion” of funds held in bank accounts and the “banning of cryptocurrency exchanges” linked to criminals.
• Confiscated expensive vehicles and properties of the criminals.

Dismantling Criminal Organizations

The operation’s main goal was dismantling “three organizations” that misuse cryptocurrency to launder “$9.7 billion” since the probe started in 2021. According to the local press, the money that was laundered was collected from a variety of illegal enterprises, mostly smuggling and drug trafficking.

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Strategies Adopted By Criminal Groups

According to media sources, these criminal groups have utilized various shell firms and other methods to conceal the sources of their illegally obtained funds. These laundered funds were moved to foreign countries such as “The U.S., the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Hong Kong, and China.”

Offenses Under Investigation

“The crimes investigated are money laundering or concealment of assets, crimes against the national financial system, ideological falsehood, criminal association, criminal organization, and crimes against the tax system,” considering all the criminal activities, the Brazilian Federal Police stated. 

What do Investigations Reveal?

Investigators highlighted the facts of the three groups that these groups work separately, but their way of conducting financial crimes is similar to each other in that the police thought these might belong to a single group as its leaders reside in “Caxias do Sul in Brazil, and Orlando, Florida, in the United States.”

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