A major bust for laundering billions

last updated 8 January 2015

The Department of Justice has shut down digital currency exchange Liberty Reserve and charged its operators with laundering more than $6 billion in criminal cash, in what is believed to be the largest online money-laundering case in history. Police last week raided properties in the U.S., Spain, Costa Rica, and 14 other countries, arresting five employees—including founder Arthur Budovsky—and seizing computer hardware. Prosecutors say Liberty was a “criminal business venture” that helped its estimated 1 million users “conduct illegal transactions” for seven years. “If Al Capone were alive today, this is how he would be hiding his money,” said one official involved.