Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Crypto exchange WhiteBIT is implicated in a scheme to launder millions from online drug markets through the shadow exchange network KIT Group: exclusive documents surface
FK Liberty Finance, operating under the KIT Group brand and owned by Kharkiv resident Anton Tkachenko, is suspected of money laundering and drug trafficking.
In short: through clandestine exchanges Liberty Finance collects cryptocurrency from drug sales, after which it is converted into cash.
According to the police, the service operated under the brands KIT Group, KIT, and through affiliated companies: LLC Pawnshop KIT GROUP PLUS, LLC Liberty Finance, LLC KIT Finance, and others.
Funds were credited to “cold” crypto wallets associated with the group's services, notably through the WhiteBIT platform (nominal owner Vladimir Nosov), and then issued as cash at payout points across Ukraine. Investigators detected crypto inflows from addresses associated with large online drug markets Underground, Total Black, and Punisher.
Criminal proceedings are ongoing under part 2 of art. 307 (illegal sale of narcotic drugs in especially large quantities) and part 2 of art. 209 (legalization of property obtained by crime) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
As a reminder, Liberty Finance has repeatedly been exposed for fraud involving misappropriation of funds during exchange operations.
CEO of WhiteBIT nominally is Kharkiv resident Vladimir Nosov. However, by March 2023 of the year, more than half of the platform’s share capital belonged to another Kharkiv resident — Mikita Shentsov, a pro-Russian politician and businessman. He transferred his stake to Nosov shortly after the president deprived Shentsov of Ukrainian citizenship for obtaining a passport of the aggressor country.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Криптобіржа WhiteBIT фігурує у схемі відмивання мільйонів від онлайн-наркомаркетів через мережу тіньових обмінників «КИТ Group»: з’явилися ексклюзивні...". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ANTIKOR.