In Spain, the investigation into hacker Denis Tokarenko, better known as Denis Katana, has concluded; he is accused of aiding in laundering funds for a Russian crime syndicate via Bitcoin. This is reported by местные СМИ.
According to case materials, the criminal syndicate operated in the southeastern Spanish province of Alicante. One of its members — Maxim Hakimov — recruited Katana to advise them on buying Bitcoin and on ways to conceal illicit proceeds.
The hacker recommended using digital assets due to “the absence of state control,” the court said.
Denis Katana was born in Ukraine and has lived in Spain since 2014.
He was first arrested in 2018 on charges of infecting ATMs worldwide with malware to dispense cash automatically. The cash on the spot was seized by “mules”, who laundered it, including through Bitcoin.
Even then Katana was acquainted with Hakimov, who, through his lawyer, passed funds to the cybercriminal for time behind bars, and also offered to hire hitmen to settle his debts.
Katana’s cryptocurrency wallets hold a total of more than 15,000 BTC. However, the judge noted only one of them during the proceedings, with a balance of 5,000 BTC (about €55 million at the time of the illicit operations).
Earlier in December 2020, Spanish police, in collaboration with Europol, detained 23 suspects in laundering funds of the ‘Russian mafia’. In the course of the searches, besides €300,000 in cash, diamonds and cars, authorities found cryptocurrency wallets.