Russian plot helps Kinahans evade US sanctions

THE KINAHANS were trying to evade US sanctions by availing of a major Russian money laundering network, it has emerged.

- BY PAUL HEALY Crime Correspondent

This week it was revealed that gardai have taken part in a huge international operation targeting a billion-euro money laundering network that was being used by the likes of the Kinahan cartel and other criminal gangs.

Several people have already been arrested in this country and almost €2 million in cash has been seized in Ireland in the past two years, gardai say.

The international operation dubbed 'Operation Debilitise' involves the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and gardai, and has identified a vast Russian money laundering operation which was being used to help them evade financial sanctions imposed by the invasion of Ukraine.

Investigators were able to establish that the network, which has been active in the UK and Ireland, had purchased a bank in Kyrgyzstan to aid in that effort to avoid US sanctions, and to fund criminal cells across the globe in also concealing their wealth.

One such group that benefited from the network was the Dubai-based Kinahan cartel, which was laundering its money through the service in an effort to evade sanctions imposed upon them by the US Department of Treasury three years ago.

Veteran crime boss Christy Kinahan Sr and his sons Daniel and Christy became targets of the American Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and were heavily sanctioned by the United States in a major announcement back in April 2022.

Now it has emerged that the desperate mobsters were one of many groups benefiting from this international money laundering effort.

EFFORTS

But thanks to the efforts of gardai and the NCA, the cash-to-cryptocurrency swap system has been identified, gardai have announced that they managed to arrest eight people and seized close to €2 million in alleged dirty money as part of the operation so far.