Biggest ever money-laundering scheme busted in Budapest – VIDEO
Based on the suspicion, the Hungarian man ordered millions of US dollars and euros through a parcel service over the past two years.
The Budapest Police Headquarters’ Department for Economic Crime is investigating a man in Budapest on the suspicion of counterfeiting. The suspect chose a strange way of money laundering. Based on the suspicion, he ordered millions of US dollars and euros through a parcel service over the past two years.
According to Police.hu, the counterfeit banknotes are low-quality forgeries, which can be deceptive to those who are not familiar with them.
At the beginning of April, investigators in the capital conducted a search at the residence of a 46-year-old Hungarian man. At the scene,
Hungarian investigators seized more than EUR 1,858,000 euros and 458,000,000 US dollars, all of which appeared to be counterfeit.
The suspect has not yet confessed to the crime. He remains at large during the proceedings.
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A similar crime also came to light in Szeged where a Hungarian woman persuaded two men to launder funds transferred from abroad to company bank accounts between January and July 2018. The suspect thus took EUR 444,750 (~HUF 167.5 million) in criminal proceeds from her accomplices.
The woman and the two men were introduced by a mutual acquaintance in early 2018. According to the indictment, the woman agreed with the two entrepreneurs to receive large transfers from abroad to the bank accounts of two companies in which they had an interest, which they would settle with her after deducting commission, reported Híradó.
Over a period of six months, the defrauded foreign companies transferred tens of millions of euros to the accounts of the two Hungarian companies on seven occasions.
The amount of the transactions ranged between EUR 27,900 and EUR 408,900.
Part of the money was withdrawn in cash from the company accounts by the two perpetrators after they had been credited. However, the majority of the money was circulated several times via internet banking, by means of instant transfers between seven company and retail bank accounts, and only then were the amounts, which now appeared to be legal, withdrawn from the accounts.
The two men ended up with a total of almost EUR 531,000, of which they kept EUR 80,000. The remaining amount was handed over to the woman who hired them at a petrol station.
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Source: police.hu, hirado.hu