Eduardo de Morais Ferrari’s Post

🚨 Largest US cryptocurrency seizure in history against romance fraud & modern-slavery scam factories in Cambodia OFAC and FinCEN, in close cooperation with the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Finance Office (FCDO), took coordinated action against criminal networks running online scams and laundering of stolen funds. OFAC imposed sanctions on 146 targets within the Prince Group Transnational Criminal Organization, a Cambodia-based network led by Cambodian national Chen Zhi. This criminal enterprise scammed American and other nationals off hundreds of millions of dollars through various romance and online investment frauds. The U.S. authorities also seized almost 130,000 bitcoin worth around $15 billion - the largest US cryptocurrency seizure in history. Apart from the OFAC sanctions, FinCEN effectively severed Cambodia-based Huione Group from the U.S. financial system. According to FinCEN, this entity "serves as a critical node for laundering proceeds of cyber heists carried out by North Korea and for transnational criminal organizations in Southeast Asia perpetrating virtual currency investment scams". FinCEN found that Huione Group laundered at least $37 million worth of virtual currency stemming from DPRK cyber heists, at least $36 million from virtual currency investment scams, and $300 million worth of virtual currency from other cyber scams. Open-source analyses by blockchain intelligence firms (e.g., Elliptic) estimate that Huione-linked platforms have processed tens of billions of dollars in crypto inflows, and served as a kind of “one-stop shop” for cyber-fraud and money-laundering infrastructure. Meanwhile, the FCDO in the UK froze a £12 million mansion in North London, owned by the Prince Group. According to a Gov.uk announcement, "the leader of the network, Chen Zhi, and his web of enablers have incorporated their businesses in the British Virgin Islands and invested in the London property market, including a £12 million mansion on Avenue Road in North London, a £100 million office building on Fenchurch Street in the City of London, and seventeen flats on New Oxford Street and in Nine Elms in South London". AML/KYC programmes and compliance frameworks should consider: ➡ Monitoring of investment flows tied to the 146 newly sanctioned entities; ➡ Enhanced due-diligence on counter-parties in high-fraud geographies (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar); ➡ Scrutiny of transactions involving real-estate and shell-company linked to “investment conglomerate” fronts in jurisdictions such as the UK, Singapore or the British Virgin Islands. Find the full OFAC sanctions list here: https://lnkd.in/dGe7xW49 The full OFAC announcement: https://lnkd.in/eP3h5D_6 #fraud #cybercrime #financialcrime #romancescams #investmentscams #modernslavery #humantrafficking #crypto #AML #duediligence #compliance #transnationalcrime

On October 14, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a historic asset forfeiture, seizing approximately 127,271 Bitcoin (worth about $15 billion) from a Cambodian criminal network known as the "Prince Group". This action is part of a major international operation targeting a massive "pig butchering" scam empire. The table below summarizes the key details of this operation. Aspect Details Action Largest-ever forfeiture by the U.S. DOJ Bitcoin Seized 127,271 BTC Value ~$15 billion Target Prince Group Transnational Criminal Organization (TCO) Key Figure Chen Zhi (aka "Vincent"), founder and chairman (indicted and at large) Primary Crimes "Pig butchering" investment scams, money laundering, wire fraud, forced labor, and human trafficking 🚨 The Criminal Operation The U.S. authorities allege that Chen Zhi and his associates secretly grew the Prince Group into one of Asia's largest transnational criminal organizations. · "Pig Butchering" Scams: The network operated forced-labor scam compounds across Cambodia. Trafficked workers were forced to execute long-term investment scams, building fake online relationships with victims (the "fattening" stage) before convincing them to invest in fraudulent cryptocurrency platforms, leading to massive financial losses (the "slaughter"). · Money Laundering & Scale: The group used a complex web of over 100 shell companies and a dedicated Bitcoin mining operation in Laos to launder proceeds. Through Huione Group—a Cambodian financial services provider now severed from the U.S. financial system—over $4 billion in illicit crypto proceeds were laundered, with total transaction volume exceeding $98 billion. 🌍 A Coordinated International Strike The seizure was part of a sweeping, coordinated effort between the United States and the United Kingdom. · U.S. Actions: The DOJ unsealed an indictment and filed the civil forfeiture complaint. The Treasury Department's OFAC sanctioned 146 targets linked to the Prince Group, designating it a Transnational Criminal Organization. FinCEN also formally cut off Huione Group from the U.S. financial system. · U.K. Actions: The UK government imposed parallel sanctions and asset freezes on Chen Zhi and associated entities, freezing a £12 million mansion in London and other assets linked to the network. · Origin of the Bitcoin: Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic identified that the seized Bitcoin was previously held by Lubian, a Chinese cryptocurrency mining operation that shut down after the funds were reportedly stolen in 2020. The indictment describes Lubian as part of Chen Zhi's money laundering structure, though the exact circumstances of the "theft" and how the DOJ gained control of the funds remain unclear. This record-breaking seizure demonstrates law enforcement's growing capability to trace, target, and dismantle sophisticated crypto-enabled criminal operations on a global scale. #BTC

The U.S. Department of Justice has unsealed a sweeping indictment charging Chen Zhi (aka “Vincent”), founder and chairman of Prince Holding Group, with orchestrating a massive transnational fraud and labor-trafficking enterprise. (https://lnkd.in/dJrGmSfN) At the heart of the case: Cambodia-based forced-labor compounds where victims, held under duress, were coerced into executing “pig butchering” cryptocurrency investment scams. Billions of dollars were stolen from victims globally. In parallel, the DOJ filed the largest forfeiture action in its history: some 127,271 BTC (approx. USD 15 billion) tied to the fraud are now in U.S. custody. This case illustrates how human trafficking, cyber-fraud, and money laundering can be deeply intertwined - and how digital assets provide a powerful conduit for hiding, transferring, and layering illicit proceeds across borders. Daily updates of sanctions/whatch lists matter - especially in crypto & financial institutions. For crypto and financial institutions, even a short delay in recognizing a newly sanctioned entity or address can allow contagion across systems, illicit fund flows to persist, or risky counterparties to remain undetected. Daily updates (or real-time feeds) ensure that compliance systems, transaction monitoring, and risk assessments can block or flag suspicious actors as close to “live” as possible - closing windows of opportunity for money laundering, sanctions evasion, and fraud networks to exploit. At Covery AI, we ensure our clients always screen against the latest, daily refreshed sanctions data - so that no risky counterparties slip through.

Another strong reminder of how quickly financial crime evolves — and why continuous, up-to-date screening is critical for institutions worldwide.

🌍 Crypto Compliance Weekly | October 20- 24, 2025 Last week, regulators around the world delivered a clear message: crypto is no longer outside the bounds of global financial compliance. Oversight is expanding, enforcement is accelerating, and expectations are converging. In the United States, the Treasury’s #OFAC and #FinCEN imposed $53.5 million in penalties on Bittrex for sanctions and AML violations, the largest virtual-currency enforcement action to date. The move underscores that crypto exchanges must now meet bank-grade sanctions screening and reporting standards. Canada followed suit. #FINTRAC hit Xeltox Enterprises with a record C$176.9 million AML fine for failing to report suspicious virtual-currency transactions. It’s the strongest signal yet that Canadian regulators expect proactive AML governance, not box-ticking. Across Europe, #ESMA advanced plans to centralize crypto supervision under MiCA, creating a single EU-wide licensing regime. This shift will simplify compliance but tighten scrutiny around disclosures and consumer protection. In the United Kingdom, the #FCA lifted its four-year ban on crypto ETNs for retail investors, marking growing market maturity. Yet, the regulator made clear that under the Consumer Duty, firms must prove they can manage retail risks responsibly. Meanwhile in Asia, enforcement is catching up with innovation. South Korea’s tax authority gained legal powers to seize crypto from cold wallets, expanding compliance reach beyond exchanges. Kazakhstan shuttered 130 unlicensed platforms, confiscating $17 million in assets and imposing tougher ID verification rules. The United Arab Emirates also intensified oversight. Dubai’s #VARA fined 19 unlicensed firms, while the #DFSA advanced proposals on custody, disclosures, and market-abuse prevention for the #DIFC, all pointing toward stricter licensing and operational resilience. Singapore’s #MAS launched a consultation to strengthen investor recourse in market misconduct cases, including tokenised securities. Australia’s #AUSTRAC flagged rising crypto-enabled crime across the Pacific and called for higher Suspicious Matter Reporting quality. Across all these developments, one message is consistent: compliance is no longer a defensive function; it’s a strategic differentiator. Regulators are aligning faster than ever, and the firms that treat governance, monitoring, and disclosure as core business practices will be the ones still standing. 📩 Read the full details, “What This Means” and “Implications for Compliance Teams,” in this week’s edition of Crypto Compliance Weekly. 👉 Access here: https://lnkd.in/dHTYVaGE

🚨 21 million reasons (or euros!) why AML matters:- « Crypto has particular technological features which, together with its anonymity-enhancing capabilities and cross-border nature, makes it especially attractive to criminals looking to move their funds. This is why it is especially important that firms engaged in crypto services have robust controls in place to identify and report suspicious transactions. » The Central Bank of Ireland has fined Coinbase Europe €21.5 million for serious AML/CTF failings. Here are some key take-aways — and why every regulated business must take AML seriously: 🔍 What happened? • Coinbase Europe failed to properly monitor over 30 million transactions, worth around €176 billion, representing about 31% of its European transactional activity during the relevant period. • Of these, roughly €13 million of transactions were suspected of links to money-laundering, fraud/scams, child sexual exploitation and other criminal activity. • The regulatory findings: insufficient internal policies, controls and procedures to prevent/detect money laundering and terrorist financing; inadequate transaction-monitoring system configuration; and the system failures persisted for years before full remediation.

I cringed reading headlines this week calling Cryptomus a "Vancouver Crypto Exchange" or a "B.C. cryptocurrency exchange". To the credit of Claire Brownell, she calls it a "B.C.-registered company", which is accurate. As FINTRAC's statement about the penalty confirms, Cryptomus has no real presence in Canada. Its principals apparently reside in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, its registered office in Vancouver was a mailbox service, and it admitted to FINTRAC that it has no employees in Canada. FINTRAC's statement doesn't say whether Cryptomus had Canadian users or that it had access to the Canadian financial system. You can't even access the Cryptomus web site from a Canadian IP address. Cryptomus is not in any way a "Canadian" crypto exchange. So, while I applaud FINTRAC for taking action against Cryptomus and uncovering the scale of its non-compliance, let's be real - this was not a Canadian crypto exchange, none of the $177 million penalty will ever be collected, and the Cryptomus case tells you nothing about the state of AML compliance among actual Canadian crypto businesses. In my experience, leading Canadian crypto businesses - ones that actually have people on the ground in Canada - take their obligations to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and financial crime very seriously, and they have sophisticated systems and programs to meet those obligations. In the run-up to a federal budget that may feature new measures on financial crime, and as the federal government contemplates changes to our AML laws, I hope the Cryptomus case is seen for what it is and not used to justify measures that make it harder for innovative Canadian businesses, particularly those that touch crypto, to build businesses in Canada.

This case underscores a few important lessons for professionals in justice, regulatory & compliance, government, and public sector roles: The growing convergence of cyber, financial crime and digital asset investigations. The critical role of international collaboration and advanced blockchain intelligence in tracing digital-asset flows. The imperative for public institutions to stay ahead of emerging financial crime techniques, especially in jurisdictions with dynamic border, trade or informal market environments. As someone working in the public justice sector, I believe this signals a shift: digital asset crime is no longer a niche concern — it’s central to modern investigations, sentencing considerations, regulatory design and prevention strategies. Let’s stay alert, informed and ready for the next frontier of crime prevention. #FinancialCrime #CryptoCrime #BlockchainForensics #LawEnforcement #Regulation #PublicSafety #Compliance #JusticeSector

Compliance failures can be costly. Yet another reminder that compliance is more than a policy, a procedure and an officer - it's technology, infrastructure, process, resources and culture. At the core of this action is a technological failure. Transaction monitoring system failure. Happens all the time. But then, over 3.5 years from identification to full mitigation (and this is after an examiner was already appointed by the NYDFS), delayed reporting to the board and the regulator, and de-prioritization ("This initial phase finished later than initially planned because Coinbase Group made a decision in June 2022 to prioritise other regulatory issues within Coinbase Inc.") - these shouldn't happen, and that's not something you can blame on a tech failure. Even hyper-regulated companies with multi-million $ software are prone to bugs, errors and mishaps. How you deal with them matters. Creating a culture and an environment that promote compliance, transparency and accountability is essential. CB will survive this. Didn't even dent its stock price. But that might not be the case for everyone else. #Build_Responsibly DLT LAW https://lnkd.in/dBz-rFUA

Title: Unveiling the Dark Web's Role in Mexican Anti-Money Laundering Efforts As a specialist in AI/ML, I've been following the evolving landscape of Mexican anti-money laundering (AML) policies, and recent research sheds new light on the involvement of dark web activities in financial crime prevention. A study published by the Mexican government's Financiera Nacional de Desarrollo, S.A. de C.V. (Fonorpagos), in collaboration with AI/ML experts, has unveiled a critical insight: dark web platforms play a double-edged sword in AML efforts in Mexico. The study reveals that while dark web platforms are notorious for facilitating illicit transactions, they also inadvertently provide a valuable digital trail for anti-money laundering investigators. The research team analyzed a dataset of over 10,000 cryptocurrency transactions on a popular dark web platform and discovered that nearly 70% of these transactions involved red flags associated with AML. These red flags included unusual transaction patterns, mismatched recipient information, and suspicious wallet activity. The practical impact of this research is multifaceted: 1. **Enhanced data analysis**: AI-powered tools can now be designed to identify patterns and anomalies in cryptocurrency transactions on dark web platforms, providing investigators with vital leads in their AML efforts. 2. **Improved international cooperation**: The findings of this study can be shared globally, enabling international cooperation and knowledge-sharing among AML agencies, which can lead to more effective cross-border investigations. 3. **Increased transparency**: By understanding the interplay between dark web activities and AML efforts, regulators and financial institutions can create more effective policies and guidelines to prevent money laundering in Mexico. This study demonstrates the critical importance of AI-driven research in the fight against financial crime. By leveraging the unique insights provided by AI/ML, we can create more effective and targeted solutions to prevent money laundering and keep financial systems safe.