A billion-dollar money laundering network which is active in the UK bought a bank to facilitate payments to support Russian military efforts, the National Crime Agency has revealed.
The NCA said the enterprise benefited criminals all over the world, from Russian-speaking hackers with millions in cryptocurrency, to street gangs in Britain who had physical money they needed to launder.
According to the NCA, launderers working for the group are operating in at least 28 UK cities and towns, where couriers are collecting cash and converting it to crypto.
It has emerged that a company linked to one of the network’s bosses purchased a bank which is facilitating payments that are supporting the Russian military.
The NCA is leading an investigation – called Operation Destabilise – into Russian money-laundering networks supporting serious and organised crime around the world.
Since the operation’s launch, 128 arrests have been made with over £25 million seized in cash and cryptocurrency in the UK alone.
A spokesperson for the NCA said a thread can be drawn between a person in the UK “buying some cocaine on a Friday night” to “geopolitical events that are causing suffering across the world”.
Sal Melki, deputy director for economic crime at the NCA, added: “Today we can reveal the sheer scale at which these networks operate and draw a line between crimes in our communities, sophisticated organised criminals and state-sponsored activity.
“The networks disrupted through Destabilise operate at all levels of international money laundering, from collecting the street cash from drug deals, through to purchasing banks and enabling global sanctions breaches.”
In December last year, the agency exposed two networks, TGR and Smart, which were working together to launder money for transnational crime groups involved in cyber crime, drugs and firearms smuggling.
The networks were known to help their Russian clients “illegally bypass” financial restrictions to invest money in the UK, according to the NCA.
Smart is headed by 39-year-old Ekaterina Zhdanova, a Russian national said to have been born in Siberia before making it in the financial industry and building up connections in Moscow.
Georgy Rossi was the boss of TGR.
It is understood that TGR and Smart laundered for Irish cartel the Kinahans, and for state-controlled TV network Russia Today.
Senior members of the networks were sanctioned by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in December and Zhdanova is being held in pre-trial detention in France.
In August, the UK Government sanctioned a company called Altair Holding SA, which is linked to Rossi, as part of a wider crackdown on Russia’s attempts to exploit Kyrgyz financial systems and crypto networks.
The NCA said that, on Christmas Day 2024, Altair purchased a 75% stake of Keremet bank, which was subsequently sanctioned by the UK and US.
Keremet was identified as facilitating cross-border payments on behalf of Russian state-owned bank Promsvyazbank, which supported companies involved in the Russian military industry.
Mr Melki told a media briefing: “The people that have been responsible for purchasing that bank, and facilitating those payments that are supporting the Russian industrial military base, are operating in at least 28 cities and towns in the UK.”
He said the UK-based launderers connected to the same network are not just couriers but are instead individuals who are “sustaining an entire architecture that allows crime to pay in our country”.
“For the first time, we are tying drugs trades in our community all the way through to the highest levels of organised crime, geopolitics, sanctions evasion, the Russian industrial military complex, and state-linked activity”, Mr Melki added.
“We could draw a really clear thread between somebody buying some cocaine on a Friday night, all the way through to geopolitical events that are causing suffering across the world.”
Mr Melki said the threat of these networks is “significant” and that the NCA and its partners “will not stop”.
“With over 120 arrests, we are making a difference and have significantly restricted these networks’ ability to operate in the UK,” he added.
“But there are other networks like them and it is imperative we continue to arrest, prosecute, seize and sanction, and deny these criminals access to the financial services they exploit.”
Security Minister Dan Jarvis said: “This complex operation has exposed the corrupt tactics Russia used to avoid sanctions and fund its illegal war in Ukraine.
“We are working tirelessly to detect, disrupt and prosecute anyone engaging in activity for a hostile foreign state. It will never be tolerated on our streets.”
