National Crime Agency exposes billion-dollar money laundering network | UK | News

Middle class drug users buying cocaine for their Friday night dinner party could be helping supply Russian weapons to arrive on the frontline in the war in Ukraine. The direct link between street drug deals and the Russian state was exposed as a billion-dollar money laundering network operating across the UK was found to have bought a bank in Kyrgystan to facilitate the evasion of sanctions and provide payments to support Vladimir Putin’s military efforts.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) warn that money launderers who work for this network operate in at least 28 UK cities and towns but are risking lengthy jail terms for tiny rewards. For a small fee, the launderers collect ‘dirty’ cash generated from the drugs trade, firearms supply, and organised immigration crime, and convert it to ‘clean’ cryptocurrency. These ‘cash to crypto’ swaps are an integral part of a global criminal ecosystem that spans offending in British communities, sanctions evasions and the highest levels of organised crime, including providing money laundering services directly to the Russian state.

But the NCA believe they have significantly restricted the network’s operations through its Operation Destabilise, which has seen 45 suspected money launderers arrested and over £5.1 million in cash seized inside the past 12 months. Intelligence gained by UK investigators has also enabled international law enforcement bodies to seize a further $24 million and since its inception. In total there have been 128 arrests as a result with over £25 million seized in cash and cryptocurrency in the UK alone.

Sal Melki, Deputy Director for Economic Crime at the NCA said: “We can now reveal the sheer scale at which these networks operate and draw a line between crimes in our communities, sophisticated organised criminals and state sponsored activity. The networks disrupted through Destabilise operate at all levels of international money laundering, from collecting the street cash from drug deals, through to purchasing banks and enabling global sanctions breaches.”

Security Minister Dan Jarvis said: “This complex operation has exposed the corrupt tactics Russia used to avoid sanctions and fund its illegal war in Ukraine.

“We are working tirelessly to detect, disrupt, and prosecute anyone engaging in activity for a hostile foreign state. It will never be tolerated on our streets.

“I want to thank every officer for their work uncovering this criminality and intercepting the dirty money networks that bankroll serious organised crime.”

A new campaign to communicate directly with the money launderers that courier criminal cash, reaching them in locations they are known to operate, has now been launched with posters and messages – in English and Russian – highlighting the risks they are taking by moving money linked to the most harmful crimes in our communities.

Melki added: “Cash couriers play an intrinsic role in this global money laundering scheme. They are in our communities and making the criminal ecosystem function – because if you cannot profit from your crimes, why bother. They are paid very little for the risks they take and face years in prison, while those they work for enjoy huge profits.

“Millions of Britons will have seen these messages at service stations but rest assured, they were not for you. To the launderers who will have seen them, your choice is simple: either stop this line of work, or prepare to come face to face with one of our officers and the reality of your choices. Easy money leads to hard time.”

In December 2024 the NCA exposed two networks, TGR and Smart, as part of Operation Destabilise, the international NCA-led investigation into Russian money laundering networks supporting serious and organised crime around the world.

Smart and TGR collaborated to launder money for transnational crime groups involved in cybercrime, drugs and firearms smuggling. They also helped their Russian clients to illegally bypass financial restrictions to invest money in the UK, threatening the integrity of our economy.

Smart is run by Ekaterina Zhdanova, who worked closely with Khadzi-Murat Magomedov and Nikita Krasnov. In summer 2023, individuals associated with the Russian Intelligence Services attempted to use the Smart Group to provide funding to individuals based in the UK and Europe. This included a UK based group of Bulgarian nationals, led by Orlin Roussev, who have since been convicted of a spying operation across Europe on behalf of Russia.

TGR is headed up by George Rossi, his second in command Elena Chirkinyan, and Andrejs Bradens (also known as Andrejs Carenoks).

All six senior members of Smart and TGR were sanctioned by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in December and Zhdanova is currently being held in pre-trial detention in France.

In August, ‘Altair Holding SA’, a company linked to Rossi, was sanctioned in the UK as part of a wider crackdown on Russia’s attempts to exploit Kyrgyz financial systems and crypto networks. Altair was identified as owning a controlling stake in Kyrgyzstan-based Keremet Bank which was utilised for sanctions evasion.

Altair Holding SA purchased their 75% stake of Keremet on Christmas Day 2024. Keremet has subsequently been identified as facilitating cross-border payments on behalf of Promsvyazbank, a Russian state-owned bank, which supported companies involved in the Russian military industrial base. 

Ilan Shor is a Russian/ Moldovan oligarch who was also involved in the sanctions’ evasion scheme linked to Keremet. Shor was arrested in 2014 for the theft of $1 billion from Moldovan banks and has since been identified as engaging in interference in Moldovan elections on Russia’s behalf.

Payment service providers such as Ilan SHOR’s A7 company, which is now sanctioned by the UK and EU, are used to enable both money laundering and malign activity. A7 and Promsvyazbank announced the launch of the A7A5 token, promoted as the world’s first rouble-backed cryptocurrency stablecoin. Networks linked to A7 are likely designed to allow cross-border payments to circumvent sanctions.

In April, two men were sentenced to a combined 13 years for laundering £6 million following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police. Valeriy Popovych and Vitaliy Lutsak exploited the Russia-Ukraine war to launder criminal profits, using criminal cash to purchase vans and lorries in the UK before selling them in Ukraine. The profit was then converted into cryptocurrency. The pair admitted picking up cash from Semen Kuksov, previously jailed after being found guilty of money laundering offences following an NCA investigation. Kuksov was taking direction from Nikita Krasnov of the Smart Group. When arrested, a search of Popovych’s house uncovered £130,000 in cash. Popovych’s criminal scheme enabled him to purchase a second house valued at almost £1 million in South West London.

In the month prior to Popovych’s and Lutsak’s sentencing, cash courier Giorgi Tabatadze was sentenced to three years in prison for helping the networks to launder £2.2 million. Tabatadze was arrested by NCA officers in April 2024 and over £750,000 in cash was seized from his car and home address.

As is typical for couriers utilised by these networks, Tabatadze was directed to drive around the UK collecting and delivering criminal cash so it could be fed into their complex laundering scheme.

Operation Destabilise has not gone unnoticed amongst the criminal community. Members of the network were believed to have reservations over operating in London and, in summer 2024, Russian-speaking laundering networks in the capital were charging significantly higher commission rates in recognition that it was difficult to work in the city. As a result of actions taken on Op Destabilise and through working with private sector partners, the ability of these networks to access the legitimate banking sector, particularly in the West, has been significantly restricted.