An Indian national has been sentenced to a long time in prison on accounts of money laundering. According to official reports, the US District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove sentenced Anurag Pramod Murarka, 30, an Indian national who used to sell virtual currency internationally under the aliases “elonmuskwhm” and “la2nyc”.

The court has sentenced Murarka to 121 months in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering. The case comes as at a time when money laundering cases have been skyrocketing globally, making surveillance even harder.

How Did Murarka Operate His Plan?

According to the reports, Murarka ran a worldwide money laundering operation from at least April 2021 until September 29, 2023.

Murarka promoted his money laundering services online, frequently on dark net marketplaces. After seeing the ads, customers would reply to him via encrypted chats and discuss an exchange rate. He also instructed his clients to transmit cryptocurrencies to certain addresses after the exchange rate was decided.

Murarka then arranged for the delivery of funds to his employees in the United States by navigating a convoluted, prearranged hawala operation that originated in India.

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The $20 Million Worth Money Laundering Took Place Globally

Cash from Murarka’s hawala connections would be collected by the company’s network of employees in the US and abroad. The cash would then be packaged in a number of ways, such as between book pages and sealed in several envelopes, before being mailed to the client.

Given that a large number of his clients were involved in illegal activities, namely computer hacking and drug trafficking, Murarka recognized that his company enabled these crimes by helping to hide the origin of the illegal activity.

Murarka and his accomplices laundered around $20 million in illicit gains in total.

Murarka’s Case Comes Amid Global Rise in Money Laundering Cases

Issues with money laundering around the world have caused chaos for all regulators. These illegal operations have increased in the last few years due to this and the simplicity with which money may be laundered utilizing digital assets.

Such crimes have a rather straightforward method of operation. To conceal their true source, criminals employ a range of services and techniques that send money through several addresses or businesses.

Then, from what seems to be a genuine source, the assets are moved to a destination address or an exchange for liquidation. This process makes it very difficult to connect money laundering to illicit activity.

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