Brazil Police Bust Cartel Laundering Billions With Crypto
Brazilian police dismantled an alleged drug cartel accused of laundering billions of reals through crypto, shell firms, real estate and luxury assets.
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Brazilian police dismantled an alleged drug cartel accused of laundering billions of reals through crypto, shell firms, real estate and luxury assets.
Brazil Police Bust Cartel Laundering Billions With Crypto
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Written by
Adrian Zmudzinski
staff writer
Reviewed by
Robert Lakin
staff editor
Written by
Adrian Zmudzinski
staff writer
Reviewed by
Robert Lakin
staff editor
Brazilian police bust cocaine traffickers in crypto-linked transnational probe
Latest News
Published
Jul 27, 2026
Brazilian police suspect the group of shipping around 6.5 metric tons of cocaine and laundering billions in Brazilian reals through crypto-enabled illicit money brokers.
The Brazilian Federal Police last week busted an alleged international drug cartel thought to have trafficked around 6.5 metric tons of cocaine and laundered billions of reais in proceeds via methods that included crypto-enabled illicit money brokers.
According to a July 23
announcement
, federal and state law enforcement arrested nine people and executed 13 pretrial detention warrants and 44 search-and-seizure warrants across São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Santa Catarina and Espírito Santo. The police also obtained court orders to freeze up to 1 billion reais ($197 million) in assets during the investigation.
The organization is suspected of moving billions in Brazilian reais through various asset-concealment methods, including shell companies, crypto-enabled illicit money brokers, luxury assets and real estate. The suspects will face charges including participation in a transnational criminal organization, international drug trafficking and money laundering.
The report follows the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control
sanctioning six Ethereum addresses tied to a Sinaloa Cartel
-linked money laundering network that allegedly converted drug proceeds into cryptocurrency in May.
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Drugs
Brazil
Crimes
Scams & Cybercrime
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This article is sourced from CoinTelegraph. It is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
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