MicroStrategy's Significant Bitcoin Impairment Losses May Mislead: Berenberg
Turkish Crypto Exchange Thodex CEO Faruk Özer Sentenced to 11,196 Years in Prison for Collapse
DeFi and Credit Risk
A Prominent Kenyan Politician Assists Suspected Money Launderers
According to a source, Interpol is working to resolve a case in which three Nigerian citizens are suspected of using money laundering profits to acquire bitcoins valued more than $43 million. Three Kenyans, including an unnamed influential Kenyan politician, are accused of assisting the Nigerian three in their efforts to hide the true reason for the money transfer.
A review by Interpol indicated that the trio might have transported approximately $215 million (25 billion Kenyan shillings) from Nigeria to Kenya between October and November 2020, according to a report in the Kenyan daily the Nation.
The three, Olubunmi Akinyemiju, Olufemi Olukunmi Demuren, and Eghosasere Nehikhare, went on a bitcoin purchasing frenzy after the monies arrived in Kenya. The trio is reported to have purchased bitcoins worth $36,353,728 from Binance's U.S. registered branch, one of the major cryptocurrency exchanges by traded volumes, during this purchasing binge. A additional $7,246,582 was spent on Busha, another cryptocurrency exchange, to purchase bitcoins.
Six bank accounts have been frozen by authorities
The trio is said to have transferred bitcoins to separate wallets after obtaining them in an attempt to make them untraceable, according to the article. Despite this, the Kenyan tabloid stated that it was unable to determine the actual quantity of bitcoins purchased by the Nigerian trio on the Kenyan crypto market Bitpesa and on Quidax.
According to the investigation, the Nigerian three were able to shift monies effectively under the guise of "same company financial transfers." The quantity of the financial transfers, on the other hand, piqued Interpol's curiosity.
Kenya's Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) is said to have acquired a court order for it to freeze six bank accounts belonging to six firms related to the suspected money launderers as a result of the Interpol investigation.
Meanwhile, according to the Nation, two Kenyan residents, Pauline Wanjiru Wachira and Evalyne Wawira Gachoki, may have assisted the Nigerian three in moving the laundered monies.
=====
Related Video:
