Brazil breaks up international money laundering ring worth up to 1 billion USD

Brazilian law enforcement agencies have arrested 11 suspects involved in a money laundering ring worth up to $1 billion through fake commercial contracts with Venezuela.

The arrests were made in the states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Parana as part of an operation called Puerto Victoria, which has legalized $1 billion in illicit money over the past three years, Brazilian federal police said on June 11.

The investigation by Brazilian authorities was conducted after a US investigation agency in 2014 presented evidence of links between subjects in Brazil and a criminal organization operating in Brazil, the US, Japan, the UK and Venezuela.

Federal police allege the criminal gang illegally withdrew money from Venezuela through fake import contracts with Brazilian companies. To do this, they inflated the value of goods by up to 5,000% to justify the withdrawal of money from Venezuela. The gang then made loans or fake import orders to transfer the money to Hong Kong (China), from where the "dirty" money would be circulated globally.

According to Chinhphu.vn