Poland Gets Custody of Gang Leader Shalom Lior
Shalom Lior A, the suspected mastermind of a criminal group laundering money for drug cartels having ties with one of the biggest crypto exchanges, was brought to Poland from the Netherlands last week.
According to multiple local media reports, the Israeli
national laundered around PLN 1.4 billion (more than $380.6 million) for
Columbian drug cartels. This is the largest sum of this kind ceased by the
Polish prosecutors.
“On May 20, with the use of extraordinary security measures,
the head of an organized crime group was brought from the Netherlands to
Poland, which washed away 1.4 billion zlotys from drug trafficking,” the Polish
authorities said in a press statement (translated quote).
Lior was arrested in Amsterdam last October with an
international arrest warrant. He has been extradited to Poland after a Dutch
court ruled in favor of it.
Moreover, the money laundering case attracted international
attention as Crypto Capital, the payment processing company serving crypto
exchange Bitfinex and now-defunct QuadrigaCX, was in the center of it.
The seized assets by the Polish authorities include $850
million of Bitfinex, which the crypto exchange entrusted to the payment
processor. The exchange ran into trouble with New York prosecutors as it was
forced to open a credit line with its sister company, Teher and hide its
losses. Both the crypto companies settled the case for a fine.
Lior is only one of five suspects in the money laundering
case. The Polish police have already arrested Crypto Capital’s President, Ivan
Manuel Molina Lee in connection with the case in 2019.
The Polish prosecutors are now charging Lior for leading an
organized crime group, money laundering and drug trafficking with a value of at
least PLN 3.4 billion. He is looking at a maximum prison time of 12 years.
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