Italian police bust a mafia "secret bank" near Milan that turned drug cash into crypto, with 30 people arrested or under house arrest, €21 million seized and €110 million in fake invoices

Italian investigators say a mafia clearing house on the edge of Milan was converting drug money into cryptocurrency. The Guardia di Finanza, acting on the orders of Milan's anti-mafia prosecutors, dismantled what it described as an underground bank operating behind a car-rental business in Pero, in an operation announced on Wednesday, October 21, Decrypt and Bitcoin.com News reported, citing the Italian news agency ANSA and other Italian media.

Thirty people were subject to court orders, 16 taken into custody and 14 placed under house arrest, with two arrests in Spain and one in Switzerland, Decrypt reported; more than 350 officers took part, according to Bitcoin.com News. Authorities seized about €21 million, roughly $24 million, in cash, bank balances, cryptocurrency, boats, jewellery and luxury watches. Those caught up in the case include a Guardia di Finanza inspector placed under house arrest on corruption allegations and a Milan court employee accused of leaking information, Decrypt reported, citing Italian media.

Prosecutors say the operators, described as long-standing contacts of 'Ndrangheta clans from Crotone and a member of the Camorra's Casalesi clan, worked with Chinese and Albanian associates. Shell companies issued more than €110 million in invoices for services never provided, letting client businesses cut their tax bills; couriers returned the cash minus a commission of about 2% to 5%, Bitcoin.com News reported. About €68 million moved abroad, through banks in Luxembourg, Lithuania and Germany and then through crypto exchanges into wallets the network controlled, Decrypt reported, citing Bloomberg. Some transactions used the stablecoin USDT, Bitcoin.com News reported, and the network also handled proceeds from online crypto investment scams, both outlets said.

The allegations have not been tested at trial.