Crypto Capital Official Nabbed in Money Laundering Probe
Crypto Capital Official Nabbed in Polish Money Laundering Probe
(Bloomberg) -- An official of the Panamanian payment processing firm Crypto Capital has been arrested as part of a Polish probe for allegedly laundering the proceeds of drug sales for an international crime group.
The suspect, in accordance to Polish rules preventing the release of full names, was identified as Ivan M.L. by the National Prosecutor’s Office. Polish media, including Radio RMF, said the suspect is Ivan Manuel Molina Lee, president of Crypto Capital. He was deported Thursday to Poland from Greece, the agency said.
Crypto Capital’s name surfaced in April when the New York Attorney General Letitia James accused the companies behind the cryptocurrency Tether and digital exchange Bitfinex of participating in a cover-up to hide the loss of about $850 million in client and corporate funds. Bitfinex acknowledged Friday that Ivan Manuel Molina Lee was extradited to Poland to answer charges, while noting that Crypto Capital processed certain funds for and on behalf of Bitfinex for several years.
“Bitfinex is the victim of a fraud and is making its position clear to the relevant authorities, including those in Poland and the United States,” Stuart Hoegner, general counsel to Bitfinex, said in a statement to Bloomberg. “We cannot speak about Crypto Capital’s other clients, but any suggestion that Crypto Capital laundered drug proceeds or any other illicit funds at the behest of Bitfinex or its customers is categorically false.”
A Crypto Capital principal, Oz Yosef, also known as Oz Joseph, has been indicted by a grand jury in New York on charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, according to a filing unsealed on Oct. 23 in federal court in Manhattan. The indictment alleges that Yosef took part in a scheme from February 2018 to October 2018 to open numerous accounts in the U.S. at different banks under the pretense that they would be used for real estate investments, while they were really used to send funds on behalf of an unlicensed money transmitting business related to the operation of cryptocurrency exchanges.
Bitfinex has been trying to get back about 1.4 billion zloty ($363 million) funds seized earlier from Crypto Capital’s accounts in small Polish bank by local authorities as part of their investigation.
“This week’s developments do nothing to affect or otherwise deter Bitfinex’s claims to funds in Poland or anywhere else,” Hoegner said. “We will continue to work to recover all funds for and on behalf of our stakeholders.”
--With assistance from Chris Dolmetsch.
To contact the reporters on this story: Konrad Krasuski in Warsaw at kkrasuski@bloomberg.net;Olga Kharif in Portland at okharif@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Dave Liedtka, Anthony Aarons
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