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Bestmixer Seized by Police for Washing $200 Million in Tainted Cryptocurrency Clean:
Bestmixer.io has been seized and shut down by European police for reportedly laundering over $200 million in cryptocurrency.
On Wednesday, Europol, the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD), and Luxembourg authorities said six servers used to facilitate the service were seized in the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
Bestmixer launched in May 2018. Only a month later, police began investigating the mixing service and found that over the course of one year, the "world's leading cryptocurrency mixing service" had managed to launder at least $200 million in cryptocurrency on behalf of customers.
[...] The service was able to mix Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Litecoin (LTC). By "mixing" these tainted coins with others, it is possible to clean up funds and eradicate ties to criminal activities written in the blockchain ledger in a process also known as "washing."
[...] A commission is then taken from the original sum before the funds are diverted to another output address, free of ledger entries which may criminalize the owners.
McAfee assisted in the investigation and has published a blog post about it.
Also at: Security Week
(Score: 3, Disagree) by bradley13 on Monday May 27 2019, @11:00AM (7 children)
I have a naive question: Why, exactly, is money laundering illegal?
Consider: I have a $10 bill, you have something of value, and we agree to swap. Further suppose that I want to get rid of my $10 bill because it's stolen. You are guilty of money laundering...when? It depends on what you know, and what you are thinking when you accept the exchange. In other words, money laundering presumes to know what is going on in your head - it is basically a thought crime.
It's really no different from the bank reporting requirements in the US: A bank is required to report any transaction of $10k or more. Avoiding those reporting requirements by depositing just under $10k is a crime. People have been prosecuted for this "crime" even when they truly happened to have just under $10 to deposit. So it's again an almost unprovable thought crime: a perfectly legal act (making a deposit) suddenly becomes criminal based on what you are thinking.
OTOH "mens rea" is (or should be) an important part of law. If you do something illegal without knowing that the act is illegal, that should count for something. You bought lobsters in the wrong kind of packaging - but had no idea there was a law about lobster packaging? Innocent. I can see mens rea as a tool for the defense - but for crimes like money laundering (i.e., ordinary financial transactions), I don't think it should be a tool of the prosecution. Laws need to be more objective than that.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 27 2019, @12:38PM (1 child)
It's not necessarily the person who wants to launder his money, its the launderer as well. It's like aiding and abetting criminals.
E.g. your buddy steals a car, you sell it as a regular car in your garage and give him part of the money. You laundered the stolen car into clean cash. You are also aiding criminal activity of stealing cars, you may not have stolen a car, like the getaway driver didn't rob the bank but surely was complicit.
When the launderers clean money, they are doing the same/similar.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday May 28 2019, @04:47PM
It's not like aiding and abetting. It is aiding and abetting, by intentionally providing a route for ill gotten gains to be accepted by the rest of the financial system which otherwise would have a duty to report or question it.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 27 2019, @02:37PM
Not quite. Playing dumb (aka willful ignorance) does not prevent you from being a criminal participant in money laundering. If your friend pops up with a lot of money out of the blue, and any reasonable person (and even some posters here on SN) would know that the money is of a questionable source, then you lose plausible deniability.
A thought crime is when you think about doing something illegal but don't actually do it. Your take on money laundering is doing something illegal but it's only a crime because you thought or knew it was illegal when you did it. Your position is basically "never learn any of the laws and you can't be responsible for breaking them."
Not quite. If your intent is to purposely deposit just under $10k to avoid scrutiny then you are willfully attempting to skirt the law. Doing it once won't get you much (if any) attention. But doing it repeatedly establishes your knowledge and intent to hide the transactions. Your actions (purposely trying to avoid reporting requirements) are illegal, which brings into question the source of the money you are trying to hide.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 27 2019, @02:51PM
> You bought lobsters in the wrong kind of packaging ...
Lobsters best bought from a tank, still alive, no packaging required.
Maybe someone can find an analogy here?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 27 2019, @06:04PM (2 children)
it's a bullshit crime. just because i accept your money doesn't mean i condone how you got it or have a clue how you earned every single dollar. it's ridiculous on it's face, but people are pitiful, bootlicking slaves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 27 2019, @08:28PM
They should be money-laundering the old-fashioned way, with Real Estate and the Russian mob. Just saying. The Zurich connection?
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday May 28 2019, @04:50PM
Not really. Accepting dirty money that you know is dirty does indeed condone the act done to acquire it. You do not need to know how I earn "every single dollar," but you do have the same reasonable duty that everyone else has to not accept money that you know (or should have known) came from criminal activity. In other words, no you're not allowed to be special and just close your eyes in a circumstance where the average reasonable person wouldn't. Sorry. (Well no, I'm not....)
This sig for rent.