Thai police have detained 27-year old actor Jiratpisit "Boom" Jaravijit in an alleged $24 million cryptocurrency scam, Bangkok Post reported August 9. Jiratpisit is reportedly one of the seven suspects in the alleged crime, including his older brother and sister. On July 26, the Criminal Court awarded a warrant for his arrest following a complaint from a Finnish man that he had fraudulently lured foreigners into investing 797 million baht (nearly $24 million) worth of cryptocurrencies. Jiratpisit has been detained on charges of money-laundering activity, which he denies. The alleged cybercrooks reportedly promised to purchase shares in companies that invested …

A major new report from the U.S. Treasury Department published July 31 has called for a more agile and conducive regulatory approach to innovations in the fintech sector. The 222-page report, devoted to ‘Nonbank Financials, Fintech, and Innovation,’ only fleetingly touches upon cryptocurrencies and distributed ledger technologies (DLT) such as blockchain, noting that these are currently being “explored separately in an interagency effort led by a working group of the Financial Stability Oversight Council.” Overall, the document indicates a strong impetus on the part of the U.S. government to foster nascent financial technologies and to modernize existing regulatory frameworks in …

Major U.S. cryptocurrency wallet and exchange Coinbase announced in a July 31 blog post that ex-Pershing exec Jeff Horowitz will join the company as its Chief Compliance Officer. Horowitz previously worked as the managing director and global head of compliance at Pershing LLC — a BNY Mellon Company — as well as leading a variety of compliance and anti-money laundering (AML) programs at Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Salomon Brothers, and serving as a banking regulator with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). According to Coinbase COO and President Asiff Hirji, Coinbase hired Horowitz to guide them as the company “expand[s] …

A Greek court has accepted a Russian request to extradite Bitcoin (BTC) fraud suspect Alexander Vinnik, complicating subsequent international litigation, the Associated Press reported July 30. A panel of senior judges in the city of Thessaloniki ruled in favor of a new extradition request from Russia for the accused computer expert. At a hearing on Monday, Vinnik reportedly denied allegations of fraudulent activity and said that he was fighting U.S. dominance in the global financial system. The court's decision complicates the case as the U.S. and France seek his extradition as well. Vinnik, who is a former owner of crypto …

UK-based service TransferGo has reportedly become the world’s first remittance operator to offer crypto trading, Bloomberg reported July 27. TransferGo now lets customers buy and sell five major cryptocurrencies –– Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Litecoin (LTC). According to TransferGo CEO and founder Daumantas Dvilinskas, the crypto trading option was launched “in response to demand from our user base”: “With over 4,000 users signing up in the first few hours we can see there is a strong demand in the market for a simple and reliable investment and trading solution.” Founded in 2012, TransferGo currently …

South Korean watchdog the Financial Services Commission (FSC) has urged lawmakers to hasten their approval of the country’s first cryptocurrency bill, Bloomberg reports July 26. Hong Seong-ki, head of the FSC’s virtual currency response team, has reportedly warned of the security and money laundering risks courted by the country’s domestic crypto exchanges. Bloomberg cites Seong-ki as saying that: “While crypto markets have seen rapid growth, such trading platforms don’t seem to be well-enough prepared in terms of security. We’re trying to legislate the most urgent and important things first, aiming for money-laundering prevention [AML] and investor protection. The bill should …

Japan has overhauled its financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA), in order to better deal with fintech-related fields, including cryptocurrencies, news outlet Nikkei Asian Review reported July 17. Changes were made to various bureaus in order to make the organization more suited to address new problems and challenges in the financial sector. Starting today, the newly created Strategy Development and Management Bureau, which replaced the Inspection Bureau, will reportedly develop a financial strategy policy and handle issues addressing the digital currencies market, fintech, and money laundering. Additionally, the bureau will be responsible for administrative duties and inspection of financial …

A Greek court has ruled to extradite the alleged former operator of crypto exchange BTC-e, Alexander Vinnik, to France, local news outlet CNN Greece reported Friday, July 13. The 39-year old Russian national Vinnik, also known colloquially as “Mr. Bitcoin,” was indicted by U.S. authorities on charges of fraud and money laundering last year, reportedly involving up to $4 billion in Bitcoin (BTC). Vinnik’s Greek lawyer Ilias Spyrliadis confirmed to Russian news agency TASS that “the court has granted France’s request for Vinnik’s extradition.” Spyrliadis also revealed that he is planning to appeal against the court’s decision in the Greek …

The EU Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive came into force yesterday, July 9, Cointelegraph auf Deutsch reports July 10. Measures within the directive will set a new legal framework for European financial watchdogs to regulate digital currencies in order to protect against money laundering and terrorist financing. As the EU Commission wrote in an accompanying press release, the new rules enact stricter transparency requirements directed at the use of “anonymous payments through prepaid cards” and “virtual currency exchange platforms” for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing. The EU Commission writes: “The 5th Anti-Money laundering directive also increases the cooperation …

An official from Indian opposition party the Indian National Congress (INC) has demanded a probe into a “mega Bitcoin scam,” The Hindu reports July 5. The scam supposedly involves leaders of the majority Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Senior INC member Shaktisinh Gohil alleged that BJP officials were complicit in a “multi-layered” scam to launder money, which he claims the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Gujarat have estimated at Rs 5,000 crore, or about $723 million. The Hindu reports that the INC has demanded that the Supreme Court monitor an official investigation into into the matter. Gohil said that BJP members …

The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has launched an international taskforce together with tax enforcement authorities from four other countries to take on cryptocurrency-enabled crimes, according to a press release published Monday, July 2. The new coalition, dubbed ‘The Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement,’ or ‘J5,’ comprises tax enforcement agencies from five countries in total –– Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, alongside the U.S. As part of J5, the agencies will cooperate on intelligence and criminal investigations “to reduce the growing threat to tax administrations posed by cryptocurrencies and cybercrime,” as well as to target transnational …

Major global auditing and consulting firm KPMG has published a study focused on financial crime in Switzerland, with a section on cryptocurrency’s role, Cointelegraph auf Deutsch reported June 28. KPMG devotes a section of their study to the role of cryptocurrency in money laundering and financial crime, illustrating methods used to launder money via digital currency. In the text addressed to financial institutions, KPMG also lays out tips on how to tackle the phenomenon. According to KPMG, money laundering can be accomplished by buying cryptocurrency at an exchange or by cash or debit card at cryptocurrency ATM using the services …