Bitcoin Forum

Brazilian Police Accidentally Discover Money Laundering Bitcoin Mining Farm

The report, which was published on April 23, claims that the State Department of Drug Trafficking (Denarc) in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul came upon a house where cryptocurrencies were being mined as they were on the trail of a suspected drug trafficker.

https://www.ccn.com/money-laundering-bitcoin-mining-brazil-police

Although, the story seems to be truth but article writers need to write their headlines, topic and stories just the way things is not in sense of using an eye causing topic which will may tag or give Bitcoin another negative name which might lead to panic sell in the market because the whole story in the article was about a man running an illegal mining not money laundering of Bitcoin as the topic says

Vague and quite a sensational article. I highly doubt that the sentiment within the government there will change because of this. News outlets like to add a bit of spice to their articles, which usually are poorly translated too.

The only illegal aspect is that this mining operation was running on stolen electricity. If that's actually the case, the authorities should penalize him for exactly that. The purpose of the electricity is not of importance at all.

Using up "Money Laundering" on topic title isnt really just right and as said by members or even on the article itself.It do pertains on illegal mining so it means he do simply steal off electricity
and basing on the article inspite of that investigation his previous records were dig up instead.

News media/article writers do really put up some words which would cause some negative views towards crypto which isnt really good at all.

Reading up on this and Google Translate so it's still a bit unclear but apparently the guy isn't doing money laundering at all. His only crimes on that day's investigation: stealing electricity, possession of firearm (with serials filed off) and possession of motorcycle with cloned plates.

Now the other linked news report also from Brazil is claiming this guy already ran up a huge list with the police: drug trafficking and even murder of a police officer.

Clickbait headline should have been: Brazil Police Find Cop Murderer Mining Bitcoin in Secret ;)

It's so funny though, despite the fact that stealing electricity can be detected in an early stage, it always takes months or a year before the electricity company or the local police step in or just have a look at what's going on. The consistency at which the electricity is being used 24/7 in that region is most likely an indication of people growing marijuana, or in the more recent years also mining crypto.

I didn't read anything about how mining Bitcoin helped him launder money. ::)

My impression is that it is not so smooth to be doing a Bitcoin mining business in Brazil where you are required to periodically do some reporting for your activities. The problem of this man is actually tied to his own history with the law and he might be charged with the stolen electricity thing and can be advised not to anymore do the mining.

As far as I am concerned this man isn't even doing cryptojacking at all since he have his own mining equipment to operate too and he allegedly only steals electricity from his neighbors. Which the only thing they can possibly prove right now is his pilferage of electricity if he is really guilty about that. Now for the other charges for money laundering and drug trafficking I think that the Brazillian police had greatly exaggerated his charges just by only finding a gun, fake plates, and a mining rig they have assumed the worst but has not found any kind of drugs or even a proof that he is laundering money.

These guys needs to be educated yes the more charges they can put in his name the greater the chances he will go in jail for ablong time but that also means that they are also wasting the taxpayers' money just by putting one man behind a cell. In my point of view it would just be a waste of time, money, and effort on some small fish like him.

sensational just because it has a mining farm and bitcoin in it
money laundering on a large scale - with the help of a bitcoin farm worth at best 1 mil USD ( thats if even that)
while at the same time all over the world trillion of dollars are being laundered in fiat money
yet we do not see articles about it unless its hundreds of millions or some unfortunate bastard from a government caught up in it

It's possible that they were taking drug money from gangsters and laundering it for them. Brazil has a shanty town full of dealers and low life's so could be related

In Brazil, it is not unusual to steal electricity. The name we give to this is "cat" of electricity. Most of the time it is an employee of the company that offers this service to earn an extra.

The suspicion of money laundering is only because that region is dominated by drug trafficking. And who seized the machines was a team of anti-drug police.

That is, they are not specialized in virtual crimes. And they recorded the crime as something close to what they know. But it is quite likely that the judge will refuse this money laundering complaint.