Bitcoin losing lustre as underworld switches over to other currencies

Bitcoin is losing its lustre with some of its earliest and most avid fans -- criminals -- giving rise to a new breed of virtual currency.

Privacy coins such as monero, designed to avoid tracking, have climbed faster over the past two months as law enforcers adopt software tools to monitor people using bitcoin. A slew of analytic firms such as Chainalysis are getting better at flagging digital hoards linked to crime or money laundering, alerting exchanges and preventing conversion into traditional cash.

The European Union’s law-enforcement agency, Europol, raised alarms three months ago, writing in a report that “other cryptocurrencies such as monero, ethereum and Zcash are gaining popularity within the digital underground.” Online extortionists, who use ransomware to lock victims’ computers until they fork over a payment, have begun demanding those currencies instead. On Dec. 18 hackers attacked up to 190,000 WordPress sites per hour to get them to produce monero, according to security company Wordfence.

For ransomware attacks, monero is now “one of the favorites, if not the favorite,” Matt Suiche, founder of Dubai-based security firm Comae Technologies, said in a phone interview.

Monero quadrupled in value to $349 in the final two months of 2017, according to coinmarketcap.com, placing it among a number of upstart coins that that rose faster than bitcoin, the world’s most valuable digital currency. Bitcoin roughly doubled in the same period, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
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US appeals court blocks release of HSBC report on money laundering

A US appeals court on Wednesday blocked the release of a report discussing HSBC Holdings Plc's progress in improving its controls against money laundering, reversing a judge's order that the report be made public.

By a 3-0 vote, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said US District Judge John Gleeson abused his discretion in finding that the public had a constitutional right of access to the report under the First Amendment.

HSBC agreed to a monitor in December 2012, when it accepted a $1.92 billion fine and five-year deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) to resolve a US Department of Justice probe.

The department said HSBC had become a preferred bank for Mexican drug cartels and other money launderers and conducted transactions in several countries barred by US sanctions.

Wednesday's decision was a victory for HSBC and the Justice Department, which have said releasing the report could compromise efforts to fight money laundering, including for terrorism, and discourage cooperation with law enforcement.

It was a defeat for Hubert Dean Moore, a Pennsylvania man who was an HSBC mortgage customer before filing for bankruptcy and sought the report's release to identify whether there remained problems in HSBC's business practices.

The report was kept under seal during the appeal.

HSBC, the Justice Department, Moore and Moore's lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Nawaz Sharif's elder son appears before Panama probe panel for sixth time

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif elder son Hussain Nawaz on Tuesday appeared before a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) for the sixth time, probing the high- profile Panamagate graft case against his family.

Hussain Nawaz arrived at the Federal Judicial Academy (FJA) and was questioned by the six-member JIT set up by the Supreme Court.

In its judgement of April 20 in the Panama Papers case, the Supreme Court had constituted a JIT and empowered it to summon the prime minister, his sons and any other person necessary, to investigate allegations of money laundering, through which the four apartments in London's posh Park Lane area were purchased.

On May 5, the Supreme Court set up a high-level six-member JIT to probe Sharif and his sons' alleged corruption in the Panama Papers case.

It has already questioned Sharif and several others of his family, including his sons - Hussain and Hasan over the family's alleged improper business dealings.

Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz will appear tomorrow before the JIT for the first time.

Sharif has denied any wrongdoing and said the property was purchased through the money his later father had invested in the Gulf states.

The JIT is expected to complete its probe by July 10 and submit a report to the apex Court, which will decide fate of Sharif. The JIT comprises anti-corruption officials, along with members of the powerful spy agency ISI and the Military Intelligence.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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CBI detects over 300 shell companies used to divert money worth Rs 2,900 cr

A complex web of 393 shell companies used for allegedly diverting funds unscrupulously to the tune of Rs 2,900 crore has been unearthed by the CBI during its probe into such cases over the last three years.

CBI sources said the shell companies were allegedly being used by the accused to divert loan funds meant for specified purposes, creating fake invoices, and "round-tripping" of funds to evade taxes and generate black money.

Round-tripping is sending money abroad to tax havens in the guise of payments for fake imports through shell companies and bringing back that money showing it as foreign investment.

The findings of the CBI are just a tip of the iceberg as these are only those cases where the agency has been able to find legally-tenable evidence of money trail, cheating and diversion of funds to cheat the banks, said the sources not willing to the named.

The murky activities have been exposed during the CBI probe into various loan fraud cases involving 28 public sector banks and one private bank, the sources said.

Besides this, the agency is probing about 200 cases involving funds of at least Rs 30,000 crore, the sources said.

The CBI is prosecuting these companies for corruption and scheduled offences associated with it.

In addition, it will also refer these cases to other investigating agencies for action under other laws like Companies Act, Prevention of Money Laundering Act, Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act and the Income Tax Act etc, the sources added.

The agency has not only "exposed" these shell companies but also gathered enough material which would "plug" the possibility of them being used for any further operation, the sources claimed.
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