Online casino network with turnover in billions, organised by citizens of Russian Federation and Ukraine, has been shut down in Ukraine. PHOTOS
The Public Prosecutor’s Office has exposed the organisers of an illegal gambling operation involving Russian and Ukrainian nationals.
According to Censor.NET, this was announced by Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko.
"Two Russian citizens and the wife of one of them, a Ukrainian citizen, set up a large-scale online gambling network. They recruited seven more Ukrainians to work for them," the statement reads.
Use of controlled IT companies and money laundering
Through controlled IT companies, the scheme’s participants operated at least five websites for online casinos. Some of these had previously operated legally, but after their licences were revoked, the organisers created new sites with the same names and continued their illegal activities.
Payments were made predominantly in cryptocurrency, specifically in USDT stablecoins. Players transferred funds to the organisers’ crypto wallets, which made it difficult to trace financial flows.
To launder the proceeds, the money was first accumulated in the accounts of a company registered in Estonia. From there, the funds were transferred to controlled offshore companies, which allowed their illegal origin to be concealed.
In total, according to the investigation, assets worth the equivalent of over 5 billion hryvnias were laundered.
Charges against those involved in the case
All participants are charged with committing crimes as part of an organised group and organising illegal gambling activities (Part 3 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 203-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
Three organisers have additionally been notified of suspicion of laundering proceeds obtained by criminal means (Part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
Two Russian citizens were notified of the charges in absentia, and a Ukrainian citizen was notified in person. The whereabouts of seven further participants are being established; they have been notified of the charges in accordance with the law via their relatives.
The scheme was uncovered and documented thanks to the joint efforts of prosecutors from the Office of the Prosecutor General, the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) and the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU).
