Legal entity and real estate used for money laundering
Legal entities and real estate. Both can be used by criminals to launder their illicit assets. This case also involved financing from abroad, which can also be a way to conceal the origin of money.
The investigation revolved around person A. Multiple obliged entities reported unusual transactions involving this person. It turned out that this person was connected to a network of several legal entities. Within this network, multiple things were going on. Combined, these things produced a strong scent of money laundering and drug trafficking.
The activities of Person A’s company took place in a variety of industries, including fruit trade and bulk commodity trading. The network included foreign legal entities that had bank accounts in countries other than where they were located. Transactions took place to a country from which narcotics are known to originate. In addition, transactions involving cash amounts were also reported to FIU-the Netherlands, which regularly included €500 banknotes. Police information also revealed that the person A had appeared in investigations into narcotics. A lot of signals. And it didn’t stop there. Because during this analysis even more interesting, unusual transaction were reported. A villa had been purchased by a foundation, with the financing coming from a company abroad. To complete the purchase, money was transferred from several foreign accounts to one collecting foreign bank account. From this bank account, the purchase amount was transferred in several installments to a notary’s escrow account.
Notable details: one of the foundation’s UBOs was person A and the foundation itself had been established just several months before the real estate transaction.
The analysis led to a case file of suspicious transactions that was shared with the police. The police investigated the network surrounding person A, which included examining the suspicion of money laundering through the foundation. Conclusion? The foundation had no purpose other than the purchase of the villa.
Eventually three suspects were arrested, including person A. Several premises were searched. Firearms, vehicles, jewelry, watches and a large cash amount were seized. The villa purchased by the foundation was also seized.
A fine example of how real estate and legal entities can be abused and how tracking international financial flows can be of added value to Dutch investigations.