News Feed

Germany uncovers Russian-Eurasian money laundering scheme

1 min read
Germany uncovers Russian-Eurasian money laundering scheme
Illustrative purposes only: Rear View Of Police Officer On City Street Against Police Car. (Reinhard Krull/Getty Images)

German authorities uncovered a major Russian-Eurasian money laundering network, which facilitated an illegal cash flow of tens of millions of euros, the Berlin Public Prosecutor's Office announced on Feb. 20.

Searches were carried out in Germany, Malta, and Latvia with the assistance of local authorities and Eurojust. Eleven people, aged between 31 and 58, are considered suspects in the case.

No later than July 2021, the suspects created a network of companies based on a Maltese financial institution with numerous fronts to conduct money laundering, the investigators said. The group is believed to have operated mainly from Berlin and Riga.

One of the suspects – a 53-year-old man – had already been detained in the German state of Brandenburg, and funds in eight Maltese accounts had been frozen, German prosecutors said.

No further details on the suspects' identities have been provided at the moment.

In 2023, German and Latvian authorities established a joint investigative task force to uncover the scheme.

Investigation: Baltic-registered crypto firms service payments for Russian private army, allow sanctions evasion
Editor’s note: This article was updated on Jan. 30, 2024, to reflect the changes made in the original investigative piece by Vsquare after the publication. The previous version of the story claimed that Akshin Dzhangirov received about 285,600 euros in income from Sberbank in 2021. Known for its
Article image
Avatar
Martin Fornusek

Senior News Editor

Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.

Read more
News Feed

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the U.S., South Korea, and Japan of military buildups around North Korea. "We warn against exploiting these ties to build alliances directed against anyone, including North Korea and, of course, Russia."

Show More