Bulgarian authorities have launched multiple raids on the local Nexo cryptocurrency firm, a major and multimillion dollar company. 15 offices have been raided and over 300 officials from multiple agencies have been working on the case, reports Dnevnik, the local media source.
The company is alleged to have committed financial crimes, money laundering crimes, and has supposedly bypassed the international sanctions that have been set against Russia. The Prosecutor General of Bulgaria Siika Mileva claims that the firm has ties to a person who financed terrorism.
According to Mileva, the firm had processed over $94 billion over the span of five years, with some 3.6 million transactions having passed through its system, many of which were headed by shady and risky individuals. The Prosecutor General also stated that the exchange ran shell companies to backup its finances.
Nexo, in a Twitter statement, responded by accusing the local regulations and authorities of acting first without asking questions. The business asserts that it has adhered to all AML policies, and even states to have had rejected many business opportunities in the past to avoid compromising its AML and KYC policies.
Nexo is a Bulgarian founded cryptocurrency exchange by Kosta Kunchev and Antoni Trenchev, both prior politicians. The company came about in 2017, and technically is not registered in Bulgaria but is still operated mainly from its capital of Sofia. Nexo has many branching firms and subsidiaries in the UK, the US, Estonia, Latvia, Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands, the Marshall Islands, and Switzerland.
