Brazil’s federal police raided a group they say used crypto tokens to launder money from illegal gold mining, Reuters reported on Friday.
Five people were arrested in the operation on Thursday, which was aimed at health-care companies that had laundered money from illegal gold mining in the northern state of Rondonia, the report said, citing federal police.
The group used its own crypto token to move billions of dollars, the police said.
The token, created by one of the group’s shell companies, was used to “justify the amounts arising from the illegal extraction of gold … as if they were investments of third parties interested in receiving dividends,” Reuters quoted the federal police as saying.
A banking analysis performed by the federal police found that between 2019 and 2021, more than $3 billion moved through the group’s bank accounts, according to the report.
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About Author
Mike Millard has worked as an editor for Bloomberg and Reuters, various newspapers and websites. He lived in Asia for more than two decades and now calls the Greek island of Corfu home. He is the author of three books.
Source: https://www.theblock.co/post/156739/brazil-police-say-group-used-crypto-to-launder-money-from-illegal-gold-mining-reuters?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss