Brazilian Authorities Arrest Suspect Of Running Potential Crypto Money Laundering Scheme

Brazilian police arrested a man that was apparently running a crypto money laundering scheme in Brazil.

The information was released by the local news site Gauchazh on April 23. As per the report, law enforcement officials shut down a Bitcoin (BTC) mining farm that operated in a clandestine drug laboratory in Porto Alegre.

Suspect Arrested of Running Crypto Money Laundering Scheme

According to the report, police found mining equipment valued at R$ 250,000, close to $63,000. These devices were switched on and running 24 hours a day mining Bitcoin. The room in which the equipment was found had little ventilation and no other security objects to run the operations.

The man claims that he owns the equipment to mine virtual currencies and that he entered the market in order to mine digital assets. At the same time, he said that he is not involved in illicit organizations dealing with drugs. The individual was also accused of stealing electricity to mine virtual currencies. Bitcoin mining requires large amounts of electricity and, depending on its price, it could be profitable or not to perform mining activities.

Adriano Nonnemacher, a police officer, commented:

“The flat is well-hidden. We are going to investigate further. Everything points to a Bitcoin mining operation. They could be exchanging the money and use it to fuel drug trafficking. Here is also a possibility that they are using the funds derived from drug trafficking to buy Bitcoin.”

At the same time, police officers decided to seize the mining equipment that could have entered the country in an illegal way from China.

Bitcoin has been several times linked to illegal activities around the world and in many different situations. However, there are some reports that show that most Bitcoin transactions are not related to illicit and criminal activities.