In Minsk, a large illegal cryptocurrency exchange was liquidated, the income from which amounted to at least 9 million Belarusian rubles (over $3.5 million). This was reported in the Investigative Committee of Belarus.
Law enforcement officers detained two men who are charged with carrying out an illegal exchange of cryptocurrencies and tax evasion.
According to the materials of the investigation, the exchanger has been operating since 2019 without the necessary registration as a resident of the High Technology Park. In addition to Belarus, the defendants conducted exchange business in the UAE, Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Tajikistan.
During searches of the office and residences of the suspects, investigators confiscated cash, cryptocurrencies and digital storage media. According to one of the detainees, the work of the exchanger in Minsk brought a net income of about $7,000 every month.
The operatives also detained the counterparty of the liquidated exchanger, who operated through an automated chat bot in Telegram. His income was 7.5 million Belarusian rubles ($2.9 million), and the amount of unpaid taxes exceeded 1.2 million Belarusian rubles ($475,000).
At the same time, according to the investigative committee, more than 30% of transactions were on darknet marketplaces, which may indicate the financing of criminal activities.
Recall that in May, the National Police of Ukraine, together with the FBI, blocked nine cryptocurrency exchangers that were used to launder criminal funds.
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