On April 7 reports started emerging from Poland[1] that Polish prosecutors seized €400 mln from an account that was allegedly linked to one of the biggest exchanges globally, Bitfinex.
While links to the crypto exchange existed, they were tenuous at best, and involved a long string of players that apparently led back to Bitfinex. From the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to an embassy in the Democratic Republic of Congo, links to Colombian cocaine cartels[2] and a Panama registered company[3]; it all sounded like the makings of a James Bond movie.
Bitfinex came out and vehemently denied the allegations and refused to comment further, indicating the matter was closed. But just how deep do these allegations lie? Is there any hard evidence, or is it all conjecture and circumstantial?
Going down the rabbit hole
The story goes that the €400 mln seized at the Cooperative Bank[4] in Skierniewice, Poland, was tied to the exchange Bitfinex. The reason that the funds were seized is that they were tied to the defrauding of €400,000 from the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the construction of its embassy in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- The funds were seized out of two[5] accounts from the bank, one registered in the vicinity of Pruszków and owned by someone of Canadian-Panamanian descent. The second account was allegedly presided over by a man with Colombian and Panamanian citizenships, and is the one with alleged ties to Bitfinex.
- A slew of documents[6] posted online supposedly tie Bitfinex to this account in a long line of links. Some of the documents[7] show Bitfinex directing its customers to an account at the bank.
- A Bitfinex user
