UK: US$ 22 Million Seized In Money Laundering Crackdown

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British authorities seized US$ 22 million on suspicion that a Russian organized crime group was using the futures market to launder money, police said.

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May 12th, 2016
Money Laundering Police

 Police said that the group involved a Russian oil firm, a Swiss investment company, a firm in the British Virgin Islands and another Russian company in the scheme. An unidentified Russian broker is currently free on bail until July after being arrested in late March on suspicion of fraud by abuse of position and money laundering, the City of London Police wrote.

The force’s Police Money Laundering Unit worked with the Intercontinental Exchange Inc on the investigation. Detective Inspector Craig Mullish said that the police were committed to ensure that the “UK is viewed as a hostile place to launder the proceeds of crime.”

This latest seizure comes on the heels of an operation around two weeks ago, where authorities seized banker’s drafts worth around US$ 43 million, Bloomberg wrote. A man was arrested on suspicion of money laundering in what was the largest monetary seizure by a UK police force.

Business Insider UK reported that the head of the National Crime Agency, David Little, said earlier that the amount of money laundering within the city was a terrifying number, “in the tens or hundreds of billions.”

Arrest warrants were recently issued by the National Court of Spain for several Russian citizens linked to Russian organized crime in the country, as a follow up to a police operation that saw a number of suspects arrested for alleged money laundering, among other charges. Some of those wanted include a United Russia party member, the Deputy Director of the Federal Drug Control Service and a former deputy of Russia’s Investigative Committee. 

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