Table of Contents
The Indian national Anurag Pramod Murarka was found guilty of money laundering and given a sentence of more than ten years in prison by the U.S. Department of Justice. Murarka concealed illicit profits from drug trafficking and cybercrime by using cryptocurrency. He used encrypted communication to coordinate transactions while operating on darknet platforms.
Through his network, money was transferred using the hawala method while being creatively disguised. Later, the FBI disrupted his business, recovering millions of dollars and confiscating illicit goods. After being released, Murarka will be under surveillance and serve the majority of his sentence.
Indian Sentenced for Crypto Laundering
On January 17, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed that 30-year-old Indian national Anurag Pramod Murarka had been declared guilty of participating in a cryptocurrency-based money laundering operation and was given a 121-month prison term.
U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove gave the term in response to Murarka's operation, which allowed the laundering of more than $20 million in Bitcoin gains connected to illegal activity. Employing identities such as "elonmuskwhm" and "la2nyc," Murarka functioned as a global virtual currency merchant on darknet sites, managing illegal transactions by encrypted communication.
Crypto and Hawala Network
According to the DOJ, the significant focus of Murarka's scheme was employing Bitcoin transactions to conceal the source of money gained from illegal activities like drug trafficking and hacking. Murarka directed his clients to send cryptocurrency to selected wallet addresses after determining exchange rates with them.
The DOJ claimed:
“Once the exchange rate had been established, Murarka, stationed in India, motivated his customers to transmit cryptocurrency to defined cryptocurrency addresses. Murarka then organized the delivery of cash to his employees in the United States by handling a convoluted, prearranged hawala operation that originated in India.”
The Justice Department went on to claim that Murarka's network of workers, both domestically and overseas, would gather money from Murarka's hawala connections, package it in various ways, such as sandwiched between book pages and sealed in multiple envelopes and then mail it to the client. Through this technique, Murarka was able to control his hawala network for cash distribution while taking benefit of the anonymity provided by cryptocurrencies.
FBI Dismantles Crypto Network
“The defendant offered his assistance to countless other criminals as they attempted to conceal their stolen money and illegal drug proceeds,” stated U.S. Attorney Carlton S. Shier, IV. The DOJ claimed that Murarka must complete at least 85% of his sentence and will remain under probation supervision for three years upon his publication.
The FBI took over Murarka’s cryptocurrency laundering activity after his arrest in order to further destroy the network. The undercover business recovered millions of cryptocurrency proceeds, stopped financial account takeovers, and resulted in the search of counterfeit drugs and equipment.
