The British National Crime Agency (NCA) has announced that a large-scale international investigation has uncovered and dismantled a Russian criminal network operating around the world, the BBC reports.
According to the investigation, the network was based on two organizations: Smart and TGR Group. The network laundered money for criminal groups in Britain, the Middle East and South America, as well as in Russia.
Among the areas of activity of the network – drug trafficking, development and production of programs for extortion and espionage.
According to the agency, 84 people were arrested in various countries as a result of the investigation.
The operation to neutralize the Russian network is referred to in the documents of international intelligence agencies as Operation Destabilise.
«For the first time, we have managed to identify links between the Russian elite, the secretive rich cybercriminals and the drug trafficking gangs operating on the streets of Britain. The network that connects them – the combined forces of Smart and TGR – has been invisible until now», – said Rob Jones, director general of the NCA's Special Operations Division.
The investigation was conducted in 2022-2023, but with the approval of the US authorities, its results were only released now, – on the day the US Treasury Department announced sanctions against a group of Russians who are at the head of this criminal network.
«Through TGR Group, the Russian elite used digital assets, including stablecoins backed by the US dollar, to circumvent US and international sanctions, enriching themselves and the Kremlin», – Acting US Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley Smith said on Wednesday.
The network mainly used the US dollar-backed Tether cryptocurrency for money laundering.
Of the individuals involved in Operation Destabilise, the following have been placed under new US sanctions:
– George Rossi – a native of Russia, a citizen of Ukraine. According to the investigation, TGR Group is under his full control. George Rossi's activities include processing stablecoin (USDT) transactions through the Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex OU, which is under OFAC sanctions.
– Yelena Chikinyan – a Russian citizen, reports directly to George Rossi and is considered a decision-maker in TGR Group. In 2023, she took part in an operation to withdraw funds from the Russian Federation intended to finance Russian mass media under British sanctions on the territory of Britain, in particular Russia Today.
– Chikinyan is also accused of swindling cryptocurrency and organizing schemes to hide the sources of income of Russians who bought real estate in the United Kingdom.
– Andriysh Bradensh – a citizen of Latvia, associated with the activities of many companies that are part of the TGR Group. One of them – Ullman Global, based in Wyoming, – belongs entirely to Bradensch.
– Ekaterina Zhdanova – head of Smart and her assistants Hadji-Murat Magomedov and Nikita Krasnov. All three represent a parallel money laundering and movement channel with TGR Group.
The legal entities and companies that were added to the US sanctions list on Wednesday are based in Russia, Britain, the US, the UAE and Thailand with branches in many other countries in Europe and Asia.
Dozens of people were arrested in the operation around the world. In addition, more than £20m in cash and cryptocurrency was seized.
Smart and TGR Group provided money laundering services to a number of international crime syndicates involved in the illegal trafficking of drugs and firearms in the UK and around the world, the NCA report says.
The essence of the scheme was that the network received money in one country and issued its equivalent in another, often exchanging cryptocurrency for cash, thus optimizing cash flows and laundering currency.
In addition, the Russian network helped clients from the Russian Federation illegally circumvent sanctions to bring Russian money into the UK. Laundered funds allowed oligarchs to buy property in Britain.
«Operation Destabilise has exposed billions of dollars in laundering schemes previously unknown to international law enforcement», – said Rob Jones, director general of the National Crime Agency's Special Operations Division.
Smart and TGR Group have been found to have strong links to the Russian financial sector.