UK Authorities Expose Billion-Dollar Money Laundering Operation Supporting Russia

A billion-dollar money laundering operation across the UK has been linked to the acquisition of a controlling stake in a Kyrgyzstani bank, facilitating sanctions evasion and supporting Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine.

This was reported by Reuters on November 21, citing the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA).

In its latest update on “Operation Destabilise,” an ongoing international investigation into Russian money laundering activities, the NCA outlined the extensive scope of these criminal networks. These operations convert proceeds from street crime into cryptocurrency and connect local drug trafficking with organized crime and state-sponsored criminal enterprises.

Previously, as reported by Reuters, the NCA, alongside the US Treasury Department, spotlighted two major networks, TGR and Smart, which were used by wealthy Russians to evade sanctions. According to the agencies, these networks were involved in laundering money for drug traffickers, criminals, and spies through a “cash-for-crypto” exchange system.

The NCA revealed that TGR was connected to the acquisition of a majority stake in Keremet Bank, a Kyrgyzstani institution that is sanctioned by the United States. According to the US Treasury, the sale of the bank by Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Finance was intended to create a “sanctions evasion hub” for facilitating Russian trade payments.

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Additionally, the NCA noted that the controlling interest in the bank, which it believes helped facilitate cross-border payments for Russian companies in sectors such as defense, aerospace, and technology, was held by a company linked to George Rossi. Both US and UK authorities suspect that Rossi, a Ukrainian national sanctioned by the US, is the leader of TGR.

“Today we can reveal the sheer scale at which these networks operate and draw a line between crimes in our communities, sophisticated organised criminals and state sponsored activity,” said Sal Melki, Deputy Director for Economic Crime at the NCA.

Earlier, a group called CyberLegion took credit for infiltrating a Russian-operated bot farm valued at $1 million, announcing that it had gained control of 300 social media accounts and pages. The group made the claim via its own report.

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