Multi-billion dollar Russian money laundering rings exposed in global sting

Two Russian money laundering networks used by drug gangs, cyber criminals and sanctioned oligarchs have been uncovered and disrupted in an international sting.

The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said this week that its Operation Destabilise has led to 84 arrests and the seizure of £20 million (€24.2m) in cash and cryptocurrency.

The money laundering rings helped criminal groups such as Ireland's Kinahan drug trafficking gang, which the US sanctioned in 2022, by selling them cryptocurrency. This allowed such criminal enterprises to buy more drugs or firearms without having to move cash across borders, according to the NCA.

The networks behind the money-laundering schemes — Smart and TGR — helped Russian cyber criminals by laundering the illicit gains they had made through ransomware attacks, and also enabled wealthy individuals from Russia to avoid sanctions and buy property in the UK, the NCA said.

British Security Minister Dan Jarvis said: "Illicit finance inflicts immense harm around the world and this major global operation marks a significant step against economic crime."

"The UK and its allies will continue to work together to crack down on illicit finance and the criminality it enables," he added. The NCA-led operation involved law enforcement agencies from the US, France, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

On Wednesday, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said it had sanctioned five individuals connected with the money laundering schemes. They included George Rossi, a Russia-born Ukrainian who heads TGR, and his Russian deputy Elena Chirkinyan.

Rob Jones, the NCA’s director general of operations, said the networks that had been exposed were "billion-dollar" operations.

"For the first time, we have been able to map out a link between Russian elites, crypto-rich cyber criminals, and drugs gangs on the streets of the UK," he said. "We have identified and acted against the Russians pulling the strings at the very top, removing the air of legitimacy that enabled them to weave illicit funds into our economy."

The details of Operation Destabilise were published a week after Transparency International, a movement which aims to stop corruption, warned the British government that it must turn its attention to shell companies in British Overseas Territories (BOTs) if it truly wanted to stem the flow of dirty money to its shores.

An analysis by Transparency International UK found that £5.9 billion (€7.1bn) worth of suspicious money had been spent on UK properties via firms registered in BOTs.