Bitfinex Using The Same Bank As Colombian Drug Cartels!

The Polish Public Prosecutor's Office has confiscated accounts worth 300 million euros from a small bank. The accounts belonged to companies that had laundered money from international drug trafficking. On the Internet it is said that money from the exchange Bitfinex has been frozen. But there is no real evidence - except that the exchange has an account with the same bank.

It is currently being read on the Internet that Polish police have seized $ 300 million from bitcoin exchange Bitfinex. This exciting story begins with an article on the investing Polish TV portal tvp.info.

According to the article, the Centralne Biuro Śledcze (CBŚP), according to Wikipedia, "an organization of the Polish police tasked with fighting organized crime, crime abroad and drug-related crime", has 1.27 billion zlotys - about 300 million euros - confiscated. These funds are owned by two companies from Pruszków, a small town near Warsaw, which is run by a Canadian-born Panamanian and a Colombian with Panamanian citizens. One of these companies, according to tvp.info, is a shareholder of a cryptocurrency exchange. However, the portal does not name a name.

Tvp.info has learned of details of the investigations, which has led to a record-breaking confiscation of mafia property. The origin of the funds is nebulous and adventurous. "Everything began with the construction of the Belgian Embassy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo." The Belgian Foreign Ministry had received from the commissioned construction company a bill of 400,000 euros. Then, however, a fraudster has spent as the company, after which the Ministry has sent the euro in his bank account. After it became clear what had happened, Interpol was turned on. The investigation eventually led to one of the companies in Pruszków.

In the review of this company, the investigators came across the other registered company in the city. This was associated with "a large online exchange for cryptocurrencies". According the research of tvp.info both companies had only the function to launder dirty money. They are linked to Colombian drug cartels. There is a relatively long chain of interconnected companies that disguise financial transactions from cocaine smuggling into Europe as well as from major fraud cases. In the course of this operation the money would also be exchanged in cryptocurrencies, so a source of tvp.info.

In early March, the investigators of various companies of the network seized about 9.5 million zlotys and 20 million dollars. Last Friday, the National Prosecutor General's Office has announced that it has frozen much more money: a total of 1.3 billion zloty. Both were on accounts of the two companies from Pruszków. So far, the connection to Bitfinex is still extremely spongy. Tvp.info does not name the participating crypto exchange by name and does not mention what role it actually played.

A local newspaper from Skierniewice, another central Polish town, adds history to the missing link. She reports that the prosecutor seized 1.3 billion zloty from the local bank Spółdzielczy. One could translate the name of the bank as a cooperative bank of Skierniewice. The newspaper says there is a suspicion that the money is linked to Bitfinex and Colombian drug cartels.

Cooperative Bank of Skierniewice

In fact, there is an indication in the net that strengthens this connection. In November, Trustnodes reported that Bitfinex has a new account with a Polish bank: at the Cooperative Bank of Skierniewice. This bank account has enabled the exchange to offer trading in euros as well. According to Trustnodes, the bank had deposits of only $ 13 million in 2011 - a figure that Bitfinex will realize in about an hour. The bank account was put on a Ltd. called Crypto SP. registered; Bitfinex shares it with Cex.io, a smaller cryptocurrency exchange. Crypto SP is owned by Crypto Capital Corp., a Panama-based company that advertises its website to handle Fiat transfers to and from crypto exchanges worldwide. Their clients include Bitfinex and Cex.io as well as Quadriga, Coinapult and Exmo.

Bitfinex’s Bank account.

It is incomprehensible to me how these reports suggest that $ 300 million has been confiscated from Bitfinex. The only thing known with relative certainty is that Bitfinex uses a Fiat transaction service provider who has an account with the Polish bank, which has also been used by international criminal gangs to launder money. This alone is in no way punishable. Because of the often-occurring complications with banks, it may even be obvious that crypto exchanges choose a bank that is particularly discreet. One could speculate that Bitfinex or Crypto Capital Corp was somehow involved in the dirty-clothes laundrette, which is somewhat supported by the tvp.info report. But there is no real indication.

After the magazine Finance Magnates reported about the affair, it was contacted by Bitfinex. The crypto exchange confirmed that they knew about the suspicions that are currently being raised by Polish media. "Bitfinex is convinced that these suspicions are wrong and that the customers of Bitfinex are not affected by the false rumors." The fact that Bitfinex is "convinced" could be an indication that the crypto market itself is unrelated the bank has to deal with and not 100 percent know whether the account of Crypto Capital is involved in the money laundering or not. That both Crypto Corp and the dummy companies from Pruszków somehow go back to Panama, could be an indication. But this is wild speculation.

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Image Sources:

• Post header created by myself
• http://skierniewice.naszemiasto.pl
• https://www.trustnodes.com

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