23 members of transnational criminal organization arrested for money laundering

By Christine Duhaime | July 12th, 2018

Europol announced today that the Spain and Columbia collectively arrested 23 members of an unidentified transnational criminal organization (the “Group”) involved in laundering the proceeds of crime on behalf of other unidentified transitional criminal organizations. The Group didn’t launder a lot of money – only €2 million.  The Group allegedly used Bitcoin to launder funds and part of the law enforcement action involved orders to freeze Bitcoin wallet addresses in Spain. The wallet addresses were set up in Spain for Columbian drug traffickers. According to Europol, drug traffickers used Bitcoin to hide the origin and movement of funds.  However, since they and the wallet addresses were located and the subject of what appears to be mareva orders, it’s fairly evident that Bitcoin financial transactions can reveal the identity of the transactors, as well as the transactions.

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