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Liberty Reserve charged in $6 billion money laundering scheme
WASHINGTON,[url=http://www.myeduhelp.com/]christian louboutin outlet[/url], May 28 () -- U.S. prosecutors have indicted operators of an alleged $6 billion-a-year money laundering operation an official called a "shadow banking system" for criminals.Seven defendants were named in a three-count indictment handed up Tuesday in New York, alleging they used the online currency exchange Liberty Reserve to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business and engaged in conspiracy to commit money laundering, The New York Times reported.Prosecutors were to announce details of the indictment publicly Tuesday afternoon, the newspaper said.Liberty Reserve, incorporated in Costa Rica in 2006, has "provided its users with what it described as 'instant, real-time currency for international business,[url=http://www.govtvault.com/]gucci outlet online[/url]," with which clients can "send and receive payments from anyone, anywhere on the globe," the indictment alleges.A senior law enforcement officials whose name was not reported told the Times Liberty Reserve "was really PayPal for criminals ... a shadow banking system for criminal conduct."The Justice Department said Liberty Reserve boasted it was the "largest payment processor and money transfer system ... (serving) millions," of people around the world.However,[url=http://www.myeduhelp.com/]christian louboutin men[/url], it did so, despite its size, without ever registering itself with the United States as a money transmitting business, the indictment said.The organization was used to launder money for criminal enterprises including child pornography and identify theft, the report said.The indictment names Arthur Budovsky as "principal founder," of the business, Vladimir Kats as a co-founder, Ahmed Yassine Abdelghani as business manager, Allan Esteban, Hidalgo Jimenez also as a manager, Azzeddine El Amine as an assistant to Budovsky, and Mark Marmiilev as one of Budovsky's associates.Several of the accused were arrested Friday in Spain, Costa Rica and New York, the newspaper said.The indictment says the business pretended to shut itself down after learning it was under investigation by U.S. officials. However, it kept running by "moving tens of millions of dollars through shell-company accounts maintained in Cyprus, Russia, Hong Kong, China, Morocco, Spain and Australia, among other places," the indictment says."Through the defendants' efforts, Liberty Reserve has emerged as one of the principal means by which cyber-criminals around the world distribute, store and launder the proceeds of their illegal activity," prosecutors said.They said "because virtually all of Liberty Reserve's business derived from suspected criminal activity, the scope of the defendants' unlawful conduct is staggering."Cyber-criminals were so convinced their activities were out of reach from authorities, they labeled their accounts with indiscreet names, "including such blatantly criminal monikers as 'Russian Hackers' and "Hacker Account,'" the indictment says.