Through underground banking, one of two 40-year-old Rotterdam brothers laundered approximately 50 million, money that, according to the Public Prosecution Service, came from drug trafficking. The public prosecutor demanded a prison sentence of five years and a fine of 500,000 euros. His younger brother laundered smaller amounts, according to the Public Prosecution Service. The sentence against him is two years in prison.
(Image from archive)
Not sure yet
The requirements are lower than would be usual, because the Public Prosecution Service has made process agreements with the defense. It has been agreed that the suspects will waive an appeal and further defense in exchange for a lower demand.
It is not yet certain whether the court will agree to these agreements.
The Public Prosecution Service has opted for making agreements because the case will then be handled more quickly
Crypto phones
The youngest brother was identified during the investigation as the user of crypto phones from messaging service Sky ECC with the name ‘Iron Man’. This user’s data shows that he was engaged in large-scale withdrawals and expenditures of large amounts of cash. The data showed that the suspect was aware of the origin of the money, according to the investigation, according to the public prosecutor.
Tens of millions
The chats show that the suspect sent messages to other SkyECC users for a long time about accepting and transferring amounts of cash. The size of these transactions is large: at least 44.5 million euros and 5.8 million dollars in the period from April 2019 to November 2020.
The data shows that one of the suspects had a coordinating role. He managed the couriers who carried out the physical transfer of the money for the criminal organization. The suspect called himself ‘broker’, other Sky ECC users called him ‘the changer’.
Schiphol
The suspect’s chat messages showed that his older brother was also involved in cash laundering. Among other things, he maintained contacts within the criminal organization and arranged new transactions.
Both men were arrested at Schiphol on November 27, 2022. This happened after the arrival of their flight from Turkey.
The main suspect is still in custody, his older brother is not.
