Europol is hunting a family in Ireland who are believed to have laundered up to €4 million from various sources. The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) of the Irish National Police ordered searches at four homes and a business in Tipperary and Kilkenny. The search resulted in the seizure of €100,000 in cash, as well as a car worth €75,000, according to Europol.
In addition, they "froze" approximately 16 bank accounts linked to members of the organized crime group, with the amounts contained in them amounting to 540,000 euros.
Europol claimed that the seizures were possible because police in Ireland operate a model , under which assets can be seized without the need for a prior criminal conviction. This means that assets and money believed to have been illegally obtained from criminal activities can be seized before they are “laundered” by criminals.
As Infosecurity Magazine reports, the same gang, which is not named, is believed to have made its money from illegal activities that took place across Europe.
Specifically, Europol pointed out the following: “In this case, Europol’s European Financial and Economic Crime Centre (EFECC) brought together the information provided by various countries on this same criminal network and brought all the countries involved together. The partners worked closely on this case to reveal the true extent of the criminal activity of this gang and to create a common strategy for the final phase of the investigation.”
However, the Irish family's actions are a drop in the ocean. A leak of more than 2,000 suspicious activity reports (SARs) filed with the U.S. government's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ( FinCEN ) between 2000 and 2017 revealed $2 billion in money laundering activity.
A survey conducted by BAE Systems Applied Intelligence last year also revealed that most banking customers want their financial institution to do more to stop money laundering and related crimes. However, a lack of resources, “outdated” technology, “poor” international cooperation and a “broken” regulatory system are obstacles to achieving this goal.
Finally, it is worth noting that according to UN estimates , approximately $4.5 million was "laundered" in 2020.
