Indian Cryptocurrency Money Launderer Sentenced to More Than 10 Years for Laundering $20 Million in Criminal Funds

Odaily Planet Daily News: Indian Anurag Pramod Murarka was sentenced to 121 months in prison by a US court for laundering more than $20 million in criminal proceeds through global cryptocurrencies and "Hawala" networks. The case was sentenced by Gregory Van Tatenhove, U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Murarka used aliases such as "elonmuskwhm" to provide money laundering services on the dark web market (April 2021 to September 2023), using encrypted communications to instruct customers to transfer crypto assets to designated wallets, and then exchange the funds for cash through the Indian Hawala network. His team delivered cash to customers through covert methods such as books and envelopes. Investigations by the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service showed that Murarka knew that his customers were involved in criminal activities such as drug trafficking and cyber hacking. After his arrest, law enforcement seized millions of illegal funds, prevented $1.4 million in financial fraud, and confiscated counterfeit drugs and equipment. Murarka will be subject to three years of supervised release after serving his sentence. (decrypt)