Less than 48 hours after a raid on the offices of cryptocurrency lender Nexo in Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, prosecutors have filed charges against four people.
According to a Bloomberg news item on January 13, the authorities accused four Bulgarian citizens of forming an organized crime group, which may have included activities related to money laundering and banking without a license. The country’s National Police Service reportedly seized a number of assets as part of the investigation, including cryptocurrency, cash and computers.
After the raid on January 12, Nexus described prosecutors acting as a “break in first, ask questions later” approach. The company reportedly planned to file a lawsuit seeking compensation for damages caused by the police action, alleging that the authorities did not show a search warrant or identify themselves to Nexo employees.
“We are always cooperating with the relevant authorities and regulators,” declared the loan company.
George Naydenov, frontend developer from Nexo’s Sofia office, explains it on LinkedIn:
“I thank the Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office for trying, of course, in the most incompetent and pathetic way to take away the work of more than 600 people in Nexo, including me.”
It is unclear who and what role may have played at Nexo involved in the arrests. The loan company has about 600 employees in Sofia.
Founded in 2018, Nexo operates an investment platform that allows users to stake and borrow against their cryptocurrencies. The company has offices in the UK, Bulgaria and Switzerland, but is reportedly not offering its services to Bulgarian residents due to possible issues with the local government. In December, Nexo announced that it planned to phase out its services in the United States, citing the lack of a clear path to regulatory compliance.
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