Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents Sofía Estrada and Nadia López, participants in the previous day of the Financial Services Forum in San Juan, revealed that there are several forms of asset laundering in this Caribbean island under colonial rule of the United States.
In this sense, they highlighted the existence of 45 Bitcoin ATMs in different geographical locations, operating 24 hours a day, as the Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Día published on Wednesday.
Estrada, an FBI intelligence analyst, admitted that it is difficult to track cryptocurrency transactions because “they can be anonymous.”
“It is not impossible to follow it, but it is more difficult to find the origin,” emphasized the US Federal Police agent.
Like her colleague from the FBI’s Money Laundering Division, Federal Agent López highlighted the multiple modalities of money laundering that currently exist alongside the use of virtual currencies due to their accessibility and the speed at which they move
“Although it is difficult to see, we can still see where they are sending the money,” Estrada clarified during the forum, which lasted two days and was attended by representatives of international banks and insurance companies in Puerto Rico.
They explained that banks and companies need to respond when a customer receives many money transfers from different locations, including cryptocurrencies, which are treated equally.
FBI agents recommend that banks and financial institutions fill out suspicious activity reports, including cryptocurrency virtual address or bank account details and relevant transaction details.
Real estate where cash transactions are carried out is also a means of money laundering.
They pointed out that Puerto Rico is a fertile ground for money laundering due to its geographical location, the tax advantages it provides to foreigners or non-residents on the island, drug trafficking and the existence of International Banking Entities (EBI) and International Financial Entities (EFI). be ).
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