WhiteBIT crypto exchange implicated in a scheme laundering money from online drug markets through a network of shadow exchangers: exclusive documents

FC «Liberty Finance», operating under the «Kit Group» brand and owned by Kharkiv resident Anton Tkachenko, is suspected of money laundering and drug trafficking.

In short: through underground exchangers of «Liberty Finance», cryptocurrency is collected from drug sales, after which it is cashed out.

According to police data, the service operated under the brands «KIT Group», «KIT» and through affiliated companies: LLC «Lombard «KIT GROUP PLUS»», LLC «FC «LIBERTY FINANCE»», LLC «KIT-FINANCE» and others.

Funds were credited to «cold» crypto wallets associated with the group’s services, including through the WhiteBIT platform (nominal owner — Volodymyr Nosov), and then issued in cash at payout points across Ukraine. Investigators detected inflows of crypto from addresses associated with major online drug markets Underground, Total Black, and Punisher.

The criminal proceedings are ongoing under Part 2 of Article 307 (illegal sale of narcotic drugs on an especially large scale) and Part 2 of Article 209 (legalization of property obtained by criminal means) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

We recall that «Liberty Finance» has repeatedly been exposed for fraud involving the misappropriation of funds during exchange operations.

The CEO of WhiteBIT nominally is Kharkiv resident Volodymyr Nosov. However, until March 2023, more than half of the platform’s authorized capital belonged to another Kharkiv resident — Mykyta Shentsev, a pro-Russian politician and businessman. He transferred his share to Nosov shortly after the president stripped Shentsev of Ukrainian citizenship for obtaining a passport of the aggressor country.