In September 2020, Israeli Gal Barak was sentenced to four years in prison and millions in restitution payments in the Vienna Cybercrime Trials (#VCT). He was one of the masterminds behind an international cybercrime organization, which is also investigated by the Cybercrime Unit in Bamberg, Bavaria. In this context, the latter also initiated an extensive law enforcement operation in Ukraine that happened just before X-Mas. In spring 2020, there has already been a law enforcement action (“Serbian Action Day”) in Serbia and Bulgaria in this context with seven suspects’ arrests. This Serbian Action Day resulted in extensive evidence and statements and the Ukraine Action Day.
The law enforcement Action Day in Ukraine (see the announcement here) was organized in cooperation with the German Cybercrime Unit in Bamberg, Eurojust, Europol, and the Ukrainian authorities. In the raid in Ukraine, nine boiler room operators and managers were arrested. Between 2017 and 2020, the boiler rooms stole eight to ten million euros per month from investors from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom via scam broker platforms.
As usual, funds stolen from client-victims were laundered through front companies in a wide variety of jurisdictions. These include crypto companies in Estonia, but also in the Czech Republic, Hungary, the United Kingdom, and other countries. Money laundering via the partially licensed Estonian crypto companies using Bitcoin & Co played a special role.
The Ukrainian Millions
During the raid, law enforcement agents seized money in different currencies worth approximately one million dollars and real estate and luxury cars with a total value of 50 million euros. The vehicles filmed by police belong to a Ukrainian whom international experts believe to be the mastermind. According to insiders, the raid is linked to the so-called Milton Group, which operates boiler rooms, data centers, and money-laundering schemes in Georgia, Ukraine, Cyprus, Balkan countries, and Israel.
Stay tuned! There is more to come!
