LONDON — British law enforcement has successfully dismantled two large-scale money laundering operations with ties to Russia, which were utilized by various oligarchs, organized crime groups, cybercriminals, and narcotics traffickers, according to announcements made by the National Crime Agency (NCA) on Wednesday.
This extensive international operation, dubbed Operation Destabilize, resulted in the seizure of £20 million (approximately $25.4 million) in cash and cryptocurrency, alongside the arrest of 84 individuals suspected of participating in these criminal networks. The revelation of these actions coincided with the United States’ announcement of new sanctions targeting key players within the money laundering operations.
NCA’s director general of operations, Rob Jones, expressed that this operation marked a significant breakthrough, stating, “For the first time, we have been able to identify the connections among Russian elites, wealthy cybercriminals abundant in cryptocurrency, and street-level drug gangs within the U.K. We have pinpointed and targeted those Russian individuals orchestrating these operations at the highest levels, dismantling the veneer of legitimacy that allowed them to integrate unlawful funds into our financial systems.”
The criminal networks, identified as Smart Group and TGR Group, facilitated the conversion of cash into cryptocurrency and vice versa, enabling criminals and affluent Russians to obscure the origins of their illegal funds and avoid sanctions imposed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Through these illicit operations, Russia’s elite have purchased properties in Britain using money that had been laundered, according to the NCA.
Furthermore, the NCA highlighted that the Russian state employed these networks to channel funds to spies working abroad, in addition to financing journalists associated with the state-controlled RT television network.
Smart Group was led by Ekaterina Zhdanova, a Russian national currently detained in France on separate charges. The U.S. had previously imposed sanctions on her last year.
The latest sanctions issued by the U.S. Treasury specifically targeted George Rossi, a Russian-born Ukrainian in charge of TGR, alongside several of his associates and affiliated entities. His current location remains unknown.
It has been reported that the networks took a 3% fee from the billions they facilitated for laundering, frequently channeling the funds through the Middle East, particularly the United Arab Emirates.
The operation had an extensive reach, affecting over 30 countries, laundering funds from diverse origins, including those of South American drug cartels and the Irish Kinahan crime syndicate, which has been implicated in drug and firearms trafficking globally, according to the NCA. Law enforcement agencies from the U.S., Ireland, France, and the UAE participated in this significant operation.