<\/p>\n
Belgian authorities are seeking the extradition of a London-based fintech professional, Caio Marchesani, on suspicions of using cryptocurrency to launder hundreds of millions of dollars for criminal organizations, including high-ranking bosses.<\/p>\n
According to new reporting<\/a> from\u00a0Bloomberg,<\/em> Marchesani, owner of Trans-Fast Remittance, allegedly facilitated substantial crypto transactions for a notorious criminal gang \u201d on a scale rarely seen by European prosecutors.\u201d The volume of laundered funds was not specified but said to be \u201chundreds of millions of euros.\u201d<\/p>\n Belgian authorities allege that Marchesani \u201cknowingly and intentionally\u201d converted substantial cash sums into Bitcoin for Sergio Roberto De Carvalho and Flor Bressers, two high-profile international crime lords.<\/p>\n Marchesani was arrested at Heathrow Airport in May and is being held without bail until his extradition ruling in September.<\/p>\n Belgian authorities\u2019 investigation, which started three years ago, traced significant cocaine shipments to De Carvalho and Bressers. Investigators later identified Marchesani\u2019s role in the scheme through encrypted communications.<\/p>\n The alleged network reportedly combined blockchain technology with elements of hawala<\/a>,\u00a0 a centuries-old system of informal trust-based money transfers popularized by Arab and Mediterranean traders in the Middle Ages. These systems typically operate outside of and in parallel to traditional financial systems. According to the report, COVID-19 restrictions incentivized the use of cryptocurrency to move funds as the logistics of moving physical cash became more difficult and expensive.<\/p>\n According to prosecutors, Marchesani allegedly used crypto to circumvent these challenges, using at least 14 Binance accounts and charging rates as high as 9% for transfers.<\/p>\n In June, Belgium\u2019s Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) ordered<\/a> Binance to halt all its services in the country, citing violations of local and European Economic Area laws. The regulator also demanded immediate return or transfer of all cryptographic keys and virtual currencies held for Belgian clients.<\/p>\n Binance, according to a spokesperson, provided \u201cpractical operational assistance\u201d relating to the investigation. At press time, it had not responded to CryptoSlate\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>request for comment.<\/p>\n Speculations are circulating about potential criminal charges against Binance. The U.S. Department of Justice is said to be weighing criminal charges against the exchange and its executives, while a recently sealed motion from the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) in its civil case against Binance has led many to speculate that the records may contain evidence of criminal wrongdoing.\u00a0To date, Binance has not faced criminal charges.<\/p>\n The post Binance linked to money laundering scheme in Belgian extradition case: Bloomberg<\/a> appeared first on CryptoSlate<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Belgian authorities are seeking the extradition of a London-based fintech professional, Caio Marchesani, on suspicions of using cryptocurrency to launder hundreds of millions of dollars for criminal organizations, including high-ranking bosses. According to new reporting from\u00a0Bloomberg, Marchesani, owner of Trans-Fast Remittance, allegedly facilitated substantial crypto transactions for a notorious criminal gang \u201d on a scale […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[230,225,221,227,226,228,229,60,223,224,222],"class_list":["post-151678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency","tag-brave","tag-coinbase","tag-crypto","tag-decentralised","tag-decentralized","tag-decentralized-exchange","tag-erc-20","tag-featured","tag-meme-coin","tag-robinhood","tag-solana"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151678"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151680,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151678\/revisions\/151680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Three-year investigation<\/h2>\n