An investigation is underway in Sofia against a company accused of financial crimes, money laundering and violations of international sanctions against Russia. Sources of the Bulgarian National Television according to the company in question is none other than the crypto platform Nexo.
According to the suspicion, the Bulgarians behind Nexo may have had something to do with Ruja Ignatova and the OneCoin Ponzi scheme she dreamed up. The “crypto queen” was added to the FBI’s top wanted list, but in addition to the investigative agency, Europol and Interpol are also on the trail of the notorious businesswoman.
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The prosecutors, the National Investigation Agency and DANS officers, together with several foreign agents, began to search Nexo’s Bulgarian office. Until now, the company has lured its customers with the promise of high returns, but according to the news, the company’s owners pocketed several billion dollars from the invested funds. The investigation of the company’s activities in the country began several months ago, after foreign service providers reported suspicious transactions, which in principle were aimed at evading the sanctions imposed on Russian banks and companies by the EU, the United Kingdom and the USA. The FBI also believed to have discovered a gaping hole of more than $4 billion in the company’s balance sheet, which led to an investigation into suspected illegal financial activity and misappropriation of client investments.
Nexo says it manages $12 billion in digital assets. According to data from the Bulgarian Attorney General’s Office, users have made about 3.6 billion transactions worth more than $94 billion through Nexo’s platform over the past five years. By the way, the company offered 36% interest on deposited crypto-assets, which, by the way, was significantly higher than the interest rates offered by fixed interest securities or banks.
“Unfortunately, due to regulatory tightening around cryptocurrencies, some authorities are taking a kick-first, ask-later approach. In corrupt countries, this borders on blackmail, but we will overcome thisNexo commented on the case.