Multibillion-dollar ring across London, Moscow and Dubai connected cash-rich criminals with sanctions evaders

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The UK’s National Crime Agency said on Wednesday that its “Operation Destabilise” investigation centred on two companies — Smart and TGR — that acted as a financial hub for cash-rich global criminals and sanctioned individuals relying on cryptocurrency outside the banking system.

The NCA said the network had been used by clients including the Kinahan cartel, Irish cocaine traffickers linked to numerous contract killings, as well as funding ransomware groups, and “Russian espionage operations” from late 2022 to summer 2023.

The illicit network, operating across more than 30 countries, illustrates the growing interaction between hostile states and organised criminals as economic sanctions have forced countries such as Russia to find new ways of operating in the west. The case also shows the increasing use of cryptocurrencies by those cut off from the global banking system.
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The British sanctioned Russian state media group RT also used the Smart network to secretly move cash to support “the activities of a Russian-language media organisation in the UK”, the NCA said. Other parts of the Russian-speaking network interacted with a crypto exchange used by Russia to procure western technology for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

https://www.ft.com/content/31b9053f-343e-4c47-ace9-2b0080ec8799