TL;DR Breakdown
- Mexican authorities burst 12 exchange firms involved in money laundering.
- Crypto continues to be big tool for money launderer.
Mexican authorities have raided through 12 local crypto exchanges said to have been involved in laundering money for the Jalisco drug cartel in the country.
The Financial Intelligence Unit, behind the burst operation got intelligent information that the exchange firms operated without any legal backing or authorization after which the exchange firms were uncovered.
The Mexican FIU said it identified the 12 exchange firms after gathering intelligent information from different sources. Nieto Castillo – the head of the FIU raised suspicion that the firms might be related to criminals that employ digital assets in money laundering operations.
He also hinted that the exchanges may be related to the drug cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación.
The cartel is a semi-militarized Mexican criminal group based in Jalisco which is headed by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, one of the world’s most-wanted drug lords.
Per the law in Mexico, the exchange firms if found guilty are liable to a monetary penalty of up to $15,000.
However, for now, the Mexican authorities have identified three suspected criminal cases involving cryptocurrencies. One of them involved Nigerian citizens in Mexico City, who engaged in draining cryptocurrencies from Mexican victims.
Crypto drug baron nabbed in Spain
Whenever hard drug crimes are mentioned nowadays, they are usually in the same breath as cryptocurrencies.
The pattern has been so for a long time with crypto and a series of other crimes including terrorism financing, human trafficking among others.
Last year, the case of an anonymous Dutch narcotics dealer arrested in Spain was widely reported. The suspect was part of the notorious Cali cartel and represented the syndicate in Europe.
He was arrested amidst several luxuries like wristwatches, exotic cars believed to be proceeds of drugs, and illegal crypto transactions. Other parts of exhibits seized from him included credit cards connected to cryptocurrency accounts, computers, and cell phones.
