Bulgaria Investigations against a crypto bank and online investment fraud

Bulgaria investigates.

As part of an international operation, Bulgarian police have initiated legal proceedings against Nexo, a Sofia-based crypto bank suspected of a long list of irregularities including money laundering, tax evasion, fraud, and organized crime.

As Siyka Mileva, a spokeswoman for Bulgaria’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office explained, the investigation was launched several months ago after foreign services detected suspicious transactions artfully crafted to evade international sanctions against Russian banks, companies, and citizens. Nexo’s clients even included an individual who was indicted for financing terrorist acts.

Bulgaria’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office spokeswoman during the press conference

In another branched international operation, judicial authorities from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Germany, and Serbia, supported by Europol and Eurojust, dismantled a criminal network involved in online investment fraud. The organization lured victims from across Europe through call centers and convinced them to invest large sums of money in fake cryptocurrency schemes. Fifteen people were arrested: 14 in Serbia and one in Germany.

• 15 arrests, 14 in Serbia and one in Germany;
• 261 individuals were questioned, some of whom are awaiting prosecution (42 in Bulgaria, 2 in Cyprus, 3 in Germany and 214 in Serbia);    
• 22 locations searched (5 in Bulgaria, 2 in Cyprus, 15 in Serbia) including: 4 call centres and 11 residences in Serbia; 2 residences in Cyprus; 2 companies and 3 residences in Bulgaria.
• Seizures include 3 hardware wallets with about USD 1 million in cryptocurrencies on it and about EUR 50 000 in cash, 3 vehicles, electronic equipment and data back-ups, documents.