A Brazilian crime group of 14 people used BTC for Money Laundering of 95 million USD and were sentenced by the court to between 10 and 21 years in prison.

According to a report from Dlnews on December 1, Deep Tide TechFlow news, the Federal Court of Brazil has sentenced 14 people for using Bitcoin to launder over $95 million in drug trafficking and kidnapping crime profits. Two main offenders were sentenced to over 21 years in prison, one of whom was a prison security officer, while the remaining 12 were sentenced to 10 to 17 years in prison.

The criminal group operated in Minas Gerais and Paraná from April 2019 to July 2024, primarily functioning to conceal the nature, origin, flow, and ownership of assets derived from cross-border drug trafficking and violent crime, including ransom payments from the kidnapping case in Rio de Janeiro. Investigations show that the group used Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to launder money for a larger criminal network, operating an “accounting department” through false tax identification numbers, false accounting records, and multiple shell companies, disguising itself as being involved in industries such as food trade, livestock, luxury goods, and swimwear.