US secret service confiscates several Deltec Bank company accounts in connection with cross-border fraud and crypto-related companies
US secret service confiscates several Deltec Bank company accounts in connection with cross-border fraud and crypto-related companies
The US secret service confiscated several Deltec Bank company accounts last month. Deltec is a Bahamaische Bank that has connections to crypto -related companies. New documents that were sealed before a federal court on Monday show that the secret service last month confiscated several US bank accounts controlled by Deltec. These are depot accounts at Mitsubishi Bank Ufj Trust in New York, which Deltec opened on behalf of corporate customers. The US authorities have associated certain Bahamaische Bank customers with mailbox companies that were involved in a cross-border fraud plan. This plan allegedly includes the creation of fake crypto websites to tempt victims to pay their assets or cash.
The US criminal investigation authority has identified at least 74 mailbox companies that are involved in this international fraud program. According to an affidavit that was submitted to a court in the eastern district of Virginia, officials were able to trace the funds connected to the mailbox companies before being transferred to accounts on the Bahamas. In its arrest warrant, the US intelligence agency pointed out that the fraudulent program worked by losing victims to invest their digital assets or cash on accounts that did not really exist. The victims were promised a considerable return for their investments. The fake crypto website would show an increased account balance to force further deposits, but no withdrawals were processed from the website.
Mitsubushi Bank reported the accounts at the authorities that Deltec led on behalf of the mailbox companies Axis Digital Limited and GTal, since they could not receive any information about the companies from the Bahama Bank. The Secret Service found that the mailbox companies had generated income from transfer fraud and transferred them to one of the custody accounts at the bank, which then transferred them to other accounts on the Bahamas. The companies have structured these transfers in such a way that they escape the usual examination for cross -border payments.
US officials claimed that banks in the United States need KYC information (Know your Customer) to open a bank account. However, the law enforcement authorities were not able to identify registered representatives, business locations or business purposes by Axis Digital Limited and GTal, as was explained in the affidavit. The seizures of the US authorities amount to over $ 58 million.
The investigations against organized international criminal money laundry, which operate cryptocurrency investments and other fraud in the transfer fraud. It remains to be seen which further developments there will be in this case.