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.

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

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