Russian socialite unmasked as boss of vast money laundering network used by British drug dealers
4 December 2024, 16:13 | Updated: 4 December 2024, 16:18
A multi-billion pound money laundering network run by Russian millionaires and used by British drug dealers has been brought down in an international sting.
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The system was used by Russian-speaking hackers with millions in cryptocurrency that they needed to turn into cash and assets, as well as street gangs in Britain who had physical money they needed to launder.
Irish cartel the Kinahans are also accused of using the system, run by two networks called Smart and TGR, to get cryptocurrency in return for cash.
Even the Russian state used the secretive network to get money to spies based in other countries, and it is also claimed it was used to move funds from the state-controlled TV network RT, formerly Russia Today, to journalists based in the UK.
Russian citizens placed under sanctions amid the war in Ukraine took advantage of the network to disguise the origin of their cash and buy property in Britain, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.
Smart was run by Ekaterina Zhdanova, a Russian national said to have been born in Siberia before making it in the financial industry and building up connections in Moscow.
She has been arrested in France, and had already been sanctioned by the US last year.
Georgy Rossi, whose current whereabouts are unknown, was the boss of TGR - and also came from a background in Russian banking before relocating to Europe.
They are both believed to have made millions of pounds from money laundering, charging around three per cent for transactions involving billions.
The funds were often routed through the Middle East, including the United Arab Emirates, and the network had reach across more than 30 countries.
Rob Jones, NCA director general of operations, said Operation Destabilise is the agency's largest money-laundering investigation in the last 10 years.
So far 84 arrests have been made, and £20 million seized within the UK.
The network would need to launder around £700 million to make that money back, the NCA said.
Mr Jones said: "Operation Destabilise has exposed billion-dollar money laundering networks operating in a way previously unknown to international law enforcement or regulators.
"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.
"The thread that tied them together - the combined force of Smart and TGR - was invisible until now.
"The NCA and partners have disrupted this criminal service at every level. 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.
"We also took out the key co-ordinators 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."
Zhdanova and Rossi were at the top of an international system where criminals with dirty money or cryptocurrency could exchange it for funds of the equivalent value, meaning they could hide the fact the money had come from crime.
Smart's customers are alleged to have included a Russian ransomware group that was responsible for attempting to extort at least £27 million from 149 UK victims including hospitals, schools, businesses and local authorities.
The system meant drug dealers in the UK swapped dirty money for cryptocurrency that they could use to buy drugs from South American cartels, while Russian cybercriminals were able to buy assets such as properties abroad.
Nik Adams, the National Police Chiefs' Council lead for economic crime, said the network was "hidden in plain sight, operating from within our communities, moving vast sums of money linked to the drugs trade and serious violence on our streets".
The scheme was first discovered with the arrest of Fawad Saiedi in London in November 2021, who was found with more than £250,000 in cash.
He was later jailed for possessing and transferring criminal property, and was thought to have been involved in laundering more than £15 million, under the instructions of Zhdanova and her associate Nikita Krasnov.
Other parts of the network that were exposed included cash couriers in the UK run by two men called Semen Kuksov and Andrii Dzektsa, who between July 2022 and September 2023 oversaw the laundering of £12.3 million in 74 days.
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One courier linked to Kuksov's network, Igor Logvinov, was arrested by An Garda Siochana in Ireland and later jailed for three years.
In Jersey in October 2021, an investigation found that Muhiddin Umurzokov, Anvarjon Eshonkulov and Batsukh Bataa had tried to launder £60,000 on the island.
They were found to be housing illegal migrants in sub-let homes that were paid for with the proceeds of drug dealing and prostitution, and were all jailed.
Two other cases saw money smugglers stopped at the border in Kent - Ukrainian nationals Taras Hirnyak and Andrii Trachuk who were found with £1 million in cash in washing powder boxes in May last year at the Channel Tunnel, and Ruslan Kaziuk who was stopped at Dover in March 2023 with taped up packages of cash.
Another courier, Andrejs Jasins, was stopped at Frankley Services on the southbound M5 near Birmingham in March 2023 and was found with £400,000 hidden under the passenger seat of his van.
The Latvian national had only flown into the UK the day before he was arrested, and was later jailed for two years.
The NCA worked with law enforcement in the US, Ireland, Jersey and France to bring down the network, that had reach across 30 countries.
A series of sanctions, announced by US authorities on Wednesday, have been put in against individuals accused of running the network.
Zhdanova's associates Khadzi-Murat Dalgatovich Magomedov and Nikita Vladimirovich Krasnov were sanctioned by the United States on Wednesday.
Rossi, a Ukrainian national who was born in Russia, was also sanctioned, along with Chirkinyan, and another leading figure in TGR, Andrejs Bradens also known as Andrejs Carenoks, as well as associated businesses including TGR Partners, TGR DWC LLC and TGR Corporate Concierge Ltd.
