Overview
- Investigators say Altair Holding SA, linked to TGR boss George Rossi, bought 75% of Kyrgyzstan’s Keremet Bank on December 25, 2024, which later routed payments for sanctioned Promsvyazbank.
- The laundering model used hundreds of couriers to collect proceeds from drugs, firearms and immigration crime across at least 28 UK locations before rapid cash‑to‑crypto swaps.
- Proceeds from ransomware groups including Evil Corp, Conti and Ryuk were moved through the same pipeline, according to the National Crime Agency.
- Senior figures in the Smart and TGR networks have been sanctioned by the US, and Smart leader Ekaterina Zhdanova remains in pre‑trial detention in France.
- The NCA reports 45 arrests and £5.1 million seized in the past year, overseas partners seized about $24 million and €2.6 million, and UK posters now target couriers with the warning that easy money leads to hard time.