Police recover more than 19 million euros in cryptocurrencies against a fraudulent investment platform

The National Police have recovered 19,400,000 euros in cryptocurrencies during the investigation against a fraudulent investment platform, for which they have arrested six people.  According to the Police this Saturday, the investigation against this investment platform, carried out between 2021 and 2023 within the framework of ‘Operation Bonanza’ , has led to the arrest of six people, the blocking of more than 100 bank accounts and ten high-end vehicles valued at around 700,000 euros.

This investigation began in 2021, when agents from the Economic and Tax Crime Unit led an operation against a cryptocurrency investment platform that, with more than 50,000 victims, had more than $500 million in their crypto wallets.

SIX ARRESTED

The operational exploitation of the investigation was carried out in several phases, leading to six arrests in Spain and the identification of the two leaders of the criminal organisation against whom international arrest warrants were issued. During the recovery of criminal assets, more than 100 bank accounts and ten high-end vehicles worth 700,000 euros were blocked.

During the month of May 2023, UDEF agents managed to identify and block a set of cryptocurrency accounts in an exchange, with an approximate balance of 20,000,000 dollars and whose owners were different front men and shell companies linked to the two leaders of the organization.

Last year, the agents contacted the authorities of the Seychelles Islands, where the exchange has its registered office, receiving the criminal funds – worth more than 19.4 million euros – in cryptocurrency wallets created by the investigators and made available to the National Court.