Brazil busts international money laundering ring worth up to $1 billion.

Brazilian law enforcement agencies have arrested 11 suspects believed to be involved in a money laundering scheme worth up to $1 billion through fraudulent trade contracts with Venezuela.

Brazilian federal police announced on June 11 that arrests were made in the states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Parana as part of an operation called Puerto Victoria. The network had laundered up to $1 billion in "dirty" money over the past three years.

The Brazilian authorities' investigation was launched after a US investigative agency in 2014 presented evidence linking individuals in Brazil to a criminal organization operating in Brazil, the US, Japan, the UK, and Venezuela.

Federal police allege that a criminal gang illegally siphoned money from Venezuela through fraudulent import contracts with Brazilian companies. To do this, they inflated the value of goods by up to 5000% to legitimize the withdrawal of funds from Venezuela. The gang then used fictitious loans or import orders to transfer the money to Hong Kong (China), from where the "dirty" money was circulated globally.

According to Chinhphu.vn