https://www.rte.ie/news/crime/2024/1204/1484725-money-laundering/

An international investigation involving gardaí, the UK's National Crime Agency and other US and European law enforcement has dismantled a Russian money laundering network used by drug traffickers including the Kinahan Organised Crime Group.

Investigators say they identified two Russian-speaking networks collaborating at the centre of the criminal enterprise, Smart and TGR, which operated out of Moscow, Dubai and London.

The gardaí collaborated with the National Crime Agency in targeting the Irish nexus of the Russian money laundering network.

This resulted in a three-year jail sentence being imposed on Igor Logvinov in July 2023. €57,200, the proceeds of drug trafficking, was also forfeited to the State.

"Collaboration with our law enforcement partners on joint investigations across international borders, targeting identified high value targets, impacts significantly on the capabilities of organised crime networks," said Detective Chief Superintendent Séamus Boland, head of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau.

Over 80 people have been arrested, some have already been jailed and over £20 million (€24.15m) sterling in cash and cryptocurrency have been seized.

The US Office of Financial Assets Control, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the French Direction Centrale de la Police Judiciaire along with authorities in the UAE were also involved to disrupt related money laundering activities.

The NCA says the UK led investigation known as Operation Destabilise discovered the network enabled UK-based criminals, Smart and TGR to launder money for transnational crime groups such as the Kinahans, and bypass US sanctions imposed on them two and a half years ago.

The family-run crime syndicate, responsible for trafficking drugs and firearms into the UK and around the world, was sanctioned by the US in 2022.

The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against the Russian-speaking men and women at the head of these networks, as well as four businesses linked to TGR.

The NCA says the networks helped Russian clients to illegally bypass financial restrictions to invest money in the UK, threatening the integrity of the UK economy.

From late 2022 to summer 2023, the Smart network was used to fund Russian espionage operations.

NCA-coordinated activity has so far led to 84 arrests, with many already serving prison sentences, as well as the seizure of over £20m in cash and cryptocurrency.

The NCA also said that Operation Destabilise uncovered a complex scheme, whereby the networks collect funds in one country and make the equivalent value available in another, often by swapping cryptocurrency for cash.

This, it says, provided a mutually beneficial service, streamlining the movement of cash generated by crime groups in the west, while simultaneously laundering cryptocurrency for cyber criminals, and helping Russian oligarchs and elites to bypass sanctions.

The UK was a key hub, and the NCA worked closely with partners across UK law enforcement to conduct a series of operations linked to Destabilise.

Investigators witnessed exchanges taking place at scale across the country where street-level cash handovers were followed almost immediately by a movement of cryptocurrency of the same value.

After being paid in cryptocurrency in exchange for their cash, criminal gangs would use the virtual currency to reinvest in their illicit business, buying more drugs or firearms without the need to move any physical money across borders.

The financial service provided to such groups perpetuated their violent activity, which the NCA says enabled them to cause serious harm to communities across the UK.

Investigators said Smart is headed up by Ekaterina Zhdanova, who worked closely with Khadzi-Murat Magomedov and Nikita Krasnov to facilitate money laundering.

TGR is run by George Rossi, his second in command Elena Chirkinyan, and Andrejs Bradens (also known as Andrejs Carenoks).

All six have now been sanctioned by OFAC in the US.

In a statement, the NCA said that Smart and TGR provide a service that enables Russian elites, and designated individuals and entities to access western economies that would otherwise be denied to them through sanctions or other financial restrictions.

It says the networks also support Russian cyber criminals to launder their illicit profits.

In 2021, Ms Zhdanova laundered over $2.3 million (€2.18m) of suspected ransoms paid in crypto by victims to the Ryuk ransomware group.

The NCA assesses that the group, members of which were sanctioned by the UK in 2023, was responsible for extorting at least £27m from 149 UK victims, including hospitals, schools, businesses and local authorities.

However, their true impact is likely to be much higher.

"Operation Destabilise has exposed billion-dollar money laundering networks operating in a way previously unknown to international law enforcement or regulators," Director General of Operations at the National Crime Agency Rob Jones said.

"We also took out the key coordinators that enabled the cash-based element of their operation in the UK, making it extremely difficult for them to operate here and sending a clear message that this is not a safe haven for money laundering."