The president of payment processing firm Crypto Capital has been arrested by Polish authorities on accusations of money laundering and participation in an international drug cartel.
According to a report by Polish media source RMF 24, Ivan Manuel Molina Lee has been arrested by Polish police following an investigation involving the laundering of money from “Colombian drug cartels through the cryptocurrency exchange.”
Crypto Capital was reportedly the payment processor for Bitfinex and the now-defunct exchange QuadrigaCX. Molina Lee’s firm may have also played a role in the mishandling of $850 million in Bitfinex funds, which has led to the exchange’s ongoing lawsuit by the New York Attorney General’s Office also involving Tether.
According to a subpoena filed earlier in the week by Bitfinex, the crypto exchange claimed in April 2018 that Crypto Capital had frozen at least $500 million in entrusted funds, which the payment processor said were being held up by regulators in Poland and Portugal. Bitfinex was repeatedly told that its funds were being held in safekeeping and would be released by authorities.
However, Crypto Capital never put forth the entrusted capital, resulting in the loss of more than $850 million from the exchange.
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