Binance caught in Kazakh drug money laundering scheme
Organizers of an illicit cryptocurrency exchange in Kazakhstan’s Kyzylorda region have been sentenced for laundering proceeds from drug sales through Binance’s peer-to-peer (P2P) platform. The total value of the illegal transactions exceeded 1 billion tenge ($2 million).
Case details
The investigation found that the defendants had traded cryptocurrency illegally through Binance P2P, operating outside the regulated trading venues of the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) and without the required permits.
«Digital assets worth more than 1 billion tenge were sold, generating 178 million tenge in illicit profits,» the Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA) reported.
Investigators also found that one of the defendants had laundered proceeds from drug trafficking. So-called money mules, or droppers, were recruited to provide their personal bank accounts to receive and transfer the funds. The total value of these transactions exceeded 600 million tenge.
The money was converted into cryptocurrency and transferred to wallets controlled by drug traffickers. The identified transfers totaled 277,000 USDT.
Read also: Kazakhstanis targeted by investment scams using Musk and Durov names.
Trucks purchased with illicit proceeds
The defendants used their criminal proceeds to purchase trucks and trailers, which they registered in the names of close relatives. The vehicles were subsequently leased to corporate entities.
Court verdict
The court sentenced the defendants to three years and two years of restricted freedom, a noncustodial sentence under Kazakhstan’s legal system. Four heavy vehicles, along with more than 1 billion tenge in illicit proceeds, were confiscated by the state.
Binance under attack
A reminder: Binance was hit by a cyberattack on Oct. 30. According to the exchange’s preliminary estimate, the damage could exceed $6 billion. If confirmed, the figure would make the incident the largest hack in cryptocurrency industry history.
After discovering the attack, Binance temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals. Company representatives later said they expected to restore withdrawals within 48 hours.
Cybersecurity experts in the U.S. and Singapore have suggested that hackers linked to North Korea may have been behind the attack.
Binance has begun compensating users for losses resulting from the large-scale hack. The company has allocated more than $6.34 billion of its own funds to cover the damage.
