Italian police have arrested 30 people in an investigation into what prosecutors described as an underground banking operation serving organized crime from a car-rental business near Milan. Authorities said they seized €21 million, or about $23.6 million, in cash, bank balances, cryptocurrency and luxury assets including boats, jewelry and watches.
Investigators linked the alleged network to the 'Ndrangheta, the Camorra and crime groups from Foggia in southern Italy. Police also said Chinese and Albanian accomplices helped run the operation, which allegedly mixed traditional money laundering methods with cross-border transfers and crypto transactions.
How the alleged scheme worked
According to investigators, the group used shell companies to issue more than €110 million in invoices for services that were never actually provided. Prosecutors said this allowed client businesses to reduce their tax bills while moving money through the network.
Those businesses allegedly paid the shell companies by bank transfer and then received most of the funds back in cash, with the operators keeping a commission. Prosecutors said roughly €68 million was then moved abroad as part of the scheme.
Banks abroad and crypto wallets
Police said money collected in the shell companies' accounts was sent on to banks in Luxembourg, Lithuania and Germany before being routed through crypto exchanges into wallets controlled by the network.
Investigators alleged that drug traffickers who delivered cash could receive cryptocurrency or international bank transfers in exchange. The same network is also accused of handling money taken from victims of online crypto investment scams.
Arrests reach into public offices
The case was supported by the Guardia di Finanza's technology fraud unit and is laid out in a court order that reportedly runs to more than 500 pages.
Among those arrested is a Guardia di Finanza inspector who was placed under house arrest on corruption charges. Investigators also accused an employee of the Milan court system of leaking information about ongoing investigations. A lawyer and a former member of the financial police were also named among those caught up in the probe.
What is confirmed so far
The confirmed enforcement action is the arrest of 30 suspects and the seizure of €21 million in assets. Prosecutors have described the business near Milan as a covert banking hub for organized crime, but the allegations will now move through Italy's judicial process.
Authorities have publicly tied the investigation to mafia-linked groups, fake invoicing, overseas bank transfers and the use of crypto exchanges. The next established step is the continuation of the court proceedings based on the evidence collected in the inquiry.
Source: decrypt.co