The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) has revealed details of Operation Destabilise, a years-long international law enforcement investigation into a giant Russian money laundering enterprise that handled billions of dollars for drug traffickers and ransomware gangs worldwide.
The multi-billion dollar Smart and TGR networks are said to have used a complex system of cash handovers and cryptocurrency exchanges to move illicit funds, making it difficult for the authorities to trace.
According to an announcement by the NCA, it has disrupted TGR and Smart, and arrested 84 Russian-speaking people so far, including 71 based in the UK.
Simultaneously, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions against senior staff at the criminal networks, and four businesses linked to TGR.
Ekaterina Zhdanova, the head of Moscow-based Smart, was previously sanctioned by US authorities in November 2023. Zhdanova has now kept a low public profile - posing as a Russian socialite and legitimate businesswoman with a glamorous lifestyle.
Both she and TGR chief Georgy Rossi remain at large, but the imposition of sanctions will make their future activities much more difficult.
The NCA says that in 2021, US $2.3 million worth of cryptocurrency paid in extortion payments to the Ryuk ransomware group was laundered by Zhdanova. Ryuk is said to have extorted at least £27 million from 149 UK organisations including schools, hospitals, businesses, and local authorities.
Illicit finance inflicts immense harm around the world and this major global operation marks a significant step against economic crime. Led by the National Crime Agency working with Border Force, Op Destabilise has exposed Russian kleptocrats, drug gangs, and cyber criminals - all of whom relied on the flow of dirty money," said Security Minister Dan Jarvis. "The UK and its allies will continue to work together to crack down on illicit finance and the criminality it enables."
“The NCA and partners have disrupted this criminal service at every level. We have identified and acted against the Russians pulling the strings at the very top, removing the air of legitimacy that enabled them to weave illicit funds into our economy," said Rob Jones, the NCA's Director General of Operations. “We also took out the key coordinators that enabled the cash-based element of their operation in the UK, making it extremely difficult for them to operate here and sending a clear message that this is not a safe haven for money laundering.”
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