(AsiaGameHub) – The people facing charges include two Russian nationals and a Ukrainian woman who is married to one of them.
Ukraine.- Ruslan Kravchenko, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General, has announced that charges have been filed in connection with an illegal online casino network operated by two Russian citizens and the wife of one of those men. Reportedly, the suspects have been charged with committing crimes as part of an organized criminal group and engaging in illegal gambling activities under Part 3 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 203-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Three of the ringleaders were additionally charged with laundering the proceeds of crime under Part 3 of Article 209.
The prosecutor general stated that payments were made using cryptocurrency, including stablecoins (USDT). Players transferred funds to the operators’ crypto wallets. To legitimize their profits, the money was first accumulated in accounts of a company registered in Estonia before being transferred to offshore companies, Kravchenko said, as reported by the Ukrainian news agency, Interfax Ukraine. Assets equivalent to over UAH5 bn (around €97m) were reportedly laundered through this method.
“Two Russian citizens and the wife of one of them, a Ukrainian citizen, created a large-scale online gambling network,” Kravchenko wrote on Telegram. “They recruited seven more Ukrainians into the operation. Through affiliated IT companies, scheme participants ran at least five online casino websites. Some of them had previously operated legally, but after their licences were revoked, the organisers created new sites with the same names and continued the illegal business”.
The two Russian citizens were served with notices of suspicion in absentia, while the Ukrainian citizen received their notice in person. Authorities are working to determine the whereabouts of the remaining seven participants. Notices of suspicion were served on them through relatives in the manner prescribed by law, Kravchenko said.
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