Yes, yes of course. Just like how HSBC physically expanded their teller windows to make it easy for Mexican drug cartels to make cash deposits.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/jul/17/hsbc-execut...
> 50. The Department alleges, and HSBC Bank USA and HSBC Holdings do not contest, that, beginning in 2008, an investigation conducted by HSI’s El Dorado Task Force, in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, identified multiple HSBC Mexico accounts associated with BMPE activity. The investigation further revealed that drug traffickers were depositing hundreds of thousands of dollars in bulk U.S. currency each day into HSBC Mexico accounts. In order to efficiently move this volume of cash through the teller windows at HSBC Mexico branches, drug traffickers designed specially shaped boxes that fit the precise dimensions of the teller windows. The drug traffickers would send numerous boxes filled with cash through the teller windows for deposit into HSBC Mexico accounts. After the cash was deposited in the accounts, peso brokers then wire transferred the U.S. dollars to various exporters located in New York City and other locations throughout the United States to purchase goods for Colombian businesses. The U.S. exporters then sent the goods directly to the businesses in Colombia.
That this system is entirely to keep up appearances is blatantly obvious, but such a large percentage of the population is making a killing on real estate they have less than zero interest.
I can't seem to find any mention of this in the linked article?
From a Rolling Stone article --
The banks' laundering transactions were so brazen that the NSA probably could have spotted them from space. Breuer admitted that drug dealers would sometimes come to HSBC's Mexican branches and "deposit hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, in a single day, into a single account, using boxes designed to fit the precise dimensions of the teller windows."[0]
[0] http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/outrageous-hsbc-se...
They couldn't even implement FATCA in time, and government allowed the deadline to be pushed pushed forwards...
The person arrested is allegedly named Alexander Vinnik, according to https://thebitcoinnews.com/alexander-vinnik-admin-btc-e-arre... - but no idea where they got that name from.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-greece-russia-arrest-idUSK...
HSBC laundered something like $9 billion for the cartels from 2006 - 2009.[1] As of Dec 2009, they had $2.36 trillion in assets.[2] Money laundering is clearly illegal and $9 billion isn't a small amount of money, but their business wouldn't have changed at all without that 0.3% of dirty cash. You can absolutely make the case that the penalties should be larger (although $2 billion in fines is a pretty good start considering they didn't keep the deposited cash) and that executives should have criminal liability, but there's nuance to both of those things.
There's just no comparison to BTC-E (or any of the darknet markets that people insist are 'just like' eBay) who solely exist to launder money and facilitate illegal goods.
[1] - https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/legacy/2012/...
[2] - http://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReportArchive/...
HSBC has none of these properties (Which are more important to their legitimate users.)
No one thinks "It could happen to me" until it's too late. Stop keeping coins on exchanges. Stop using third party wallets and other software. If you want to invest in coins because they might go up, that might make sense, but at least treat it like a serious investment.
The site has always hidden its origins, and the only information I could find was that the founders' names are supposedly Aleksey and Alexander, based on https://www.coindesk.com/btc-e-recent-issues-caused-surge-us...
>BREAKING: Russian man arrested in Greece connected to BTC-e cryptocurrency exchange - sources
https://twitter.com/ReutersTech/status/890232366320553984
UPD
>A Russian national arrested in Greece on Wednesday on suspicion of laundering criminal funds by switching them into bitcoins is a key person behind the BTC-e crypto-currency exchange, two sources close to the exchange told Reuters.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-greece-russia-arrest-bitco...
>As for where the criminals are cashing out, 95 per cent of ransom funds were cashed out at the Russian exchange BTC-E. That chimes with the indication that the biggest ransomware types are the produce of the biggest organized criminal gangs working out of Russia.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2017/07/25/googl...
The DoD accounting scandal is an example of the US Government effectively laundering massive sums of money to evade accountability:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/23/politics/us-army-audit-account...
Also, governments use other tactics that are illegal in the private sector extensively, such as fudging their accounting to hide market volatility.
https://www.sec.gov/news/testimony/2006/ts061506cc.htm
Governments care about private sector money laundering mainly because it can be used to conceal tax evasion. If drug lords and human traffickers simply paid their fair share of taxes chances are money laundering would not be on governments' radar.
This is a bit ridiculous. It's sometimes just more convenient to prosecute the side effects of crime than the crime itself. The financial system and regulations are set up in a way that makes it possible to catch and imprison criminals solely for their use of legitimate banking for their illicit activity. It adds a net to improve capture.
You don't put out mousetraps to protect the bait.
Money laundering (as an offence) is just a crude tool to make prosecutor's lives far, far, easier.
I've personally looked at BTC-e's trade histories and am not inclined to believe this. BTC-e's weak security track record also doesn't exactly support this theory either.
EDIT: I guess wizsec came through http://blog.wizsec.jp/2017/07/breaking-open-mtgox-1.html
>To be clear, this investigation turned up evidence to identify Vinnik not as a hacker/thief but as a money launderer; his arrest news also suggests this is what he is being suspected for. He may have merely bought cheap coins from thieves and offered a laundering service. He is, however, a crucial piece of the puzzle, as he will have likely known who he was dealing with and laundering for, and so represents a major breakthrough in the case. We assume that law enforcement will now be taking the appropriate next steps to pursue all the remaining angles and hopefully identify the other individuals involved as well.
Sounds perfect for government and public business accounting.
At this point in time it's "Solo Monero" for privacy.
edit for clarification: I wasn't saying he wouldn't have been caught, only that Monero offers additional benefits beyond some of the other coins and help conceal transaction history.
He is guy who has been identified in MtGox hacking
For example, if you run a USD-BTC exchange, and I mail you a suitcase full of money, then withdraw it as BTC, you would almost certainly be aiding money laundering.
