Bulgaria’s prosecutor’s office has closed its investigation into alleged money laundering at cryptocurrency lender Nexo, saying it has found no evidence of illegal or criminal activity.
Prosecutors also added that they found no evidence of tax crimes or computer fraud against the defendant.
Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office closes investigation
The Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office announced that it was ending its investigation into cryptocurrency lender Nexo due to lack of evidence. According to a local news agency, the bureau said it found no evidence of tax crimes, money laundering, computer fraud or other criminal activity. The investigation into the company first came to light in January 2023 after authorities said they had obtained significant evidence of illegal activity against Nexo users. Then-Justice Minister Siika Mileva said:
“The main organizers of this plan are citizens of Bulgaria and the activities were carried out mainly on the territory of Bulgaria. “Evidence has been collected that the person who used the platform to transfer cryptocurrency has been officially designated as a terrorist financier,” he said.
According to an official statement released by the authorities, the main reason for the decision to withdraw the fee is that cryptocurrencies and crypto assets are not considered financial instruments in Bulgaria and are not subject to the law on payment services and systems. The charges against the cryptocurrency lender relate to incidents that occurred between 2018 and January 2023. They claimed that the defendants Antoni Trenchev, Kosta Kanchev, Kalin Metodiev and Trayan Nokolov were involved in an organized crime group.
politically motivated charges
After the charges against the lending platform were dropped, Nexo co-founder and managing partner Antoni Trenchev claimed the charges were politically motivated and said they should never have occurred in the first place. Trenchev said:
“The fact that the Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office has dismissed all charges brought against Nexo and its executives and found that no crime was committed makes it clear that the entire attack on Nexo was political and should never have happened in the first place.”
He also said that this decision is a defense of good actors in the cryptocurrency industry.
“It also goes a long way in getting our name out there and championing all the great actors in the cryptocurrency industry. We are very satisfied with this result.”
Nexo Raid
Bulgarian authorities raided Nexo’s Bulgarian offices on January 12 on suspicion of money laundering and tax violations. At the time, Trenchev called the behavior outrageous. Nexo said it was cooperating with authorities and regulators and already had strict anti-money laundering and know-your-customer (KYC) regulations in place, and that it was being unfairly targeted. A Nexo spokesperson said:
“As you know, there are authorities in one of Nexo’s offices in Bulgaria, the most corrupt country in the European Union (EU). They are making AML and tax inquiries about the group’s Bulgarian entity, which is not customer-facing and only has back-office functions such as payroll, customer support and compliance. We are one of the most stringent agencies when it comes to KYC/AML.”
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not provided or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial or other advice.