EU Targets Cross-Border Fraud

Europe is preparing to appoint a new chief of financial-crime enforcement, a move aimed at strengthening the fight against money laundering— including schemes involving cryptocurrencies. According to unofficial reports, the position at Europol is expected to go to Giuseppe Lopez, an officer of Italy’s Guardia di Finanza specializing in economic crimes. The decision could be announced within the next month, although there is still no formal confirmation.

Experts have long warned that traditional law-enforcement agencies are struggling to keep up with the rising number of money-laundering cases, cross-border fraud, and sanctions evasion. An additional challenge is the growing use of cryptocurrencies by criminal groups. A recent example is the U.S. seizure of roughly 15 billion dollars’ worth of Bitcoin, revealed after dismantling a massive cyber-fraud scheme operating out of Cambodia.

The European Financial and Economic Crime Centre, which Lopez is expected to lead, supports EU member states in tracing illicit money flows and recovering assets hidden abroad. Since 2020, the centre has coordinated complex international investigations, including its largest effort so far—Operation Oscar, launched in 2022. The operation focuses on identifying and freezing the assets of individuals sanctioned following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. More than 2 billion euros have been frozen to date.

At the same time, pressure is growing to tighten oversight of the digital-asset market. Criminals are increasingly drawn to cryptocurrencies, which allow fast and difficult-to-trace transfers. The most recent example is the case of Chen Zhi, an entrepreneur charged in the United States with running a vast cyber-fraud and money-laundering network that relied on the so-called “pig-butchering” scam technique.