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The Bulgarian police has raided Nexo’s office on charges of “organized crime, money laundering, tax evasion, banking activity without a license, and computer fraud”.
Crypto lender Nexo is now facing new trouble with Bulgarian police officials raiding its office in a tax and money laundering probe. The police raided Nexo’s office in Sofia on Thursday, January 12, as part of their latest investigation.
Siyka Mileva, a spokesperson for Bulgaria’s chief prosecutors said that in addition to tax crimes and money laundering, authorities are also looking at the suspected involvement of Nexo in unlicensed banking activities. Mileva said that the Bulgarian police have searched a total of 15 offices related to Nexo.
Nexo co-founder Antoni Trenchev also confirmed the raid. Speaking to Bloomberg and referring to the company’s operational expenses, he said:
“They are inquiring about a Bulgarian entity of the group that is not customer-facing but only has OpEx-related functions. This is a coordinated attack as is evident from the absurd allegations.”
Amid the turmoil in the crypto space and the collapse of big payers, crypto lender Nexo has been facing major liquidity and operational challenges. Recently, Nexo also terminated its bid for the potential acquisitions of crypto lender Vauld, who suspended withdrawals last July. The latest decision came after six months of dialogue between the two parties. However, it seems that both parties haven’t been able to find a common ground.
Also, Vauld rejected the bid from Nexo earlier this year. “We have taken the terms of the Final Nexo Proposal into consideration and further consulted with the COC, and we unanimously do not accept your proposal as it stands,” they noted.
Nexo Exits US Market
The latest raids in Nexo’s office in Bulgaria come a month after the London-based crypto lender stated that it was ending operations in the United States following failed 18 months of long negotiations with the state and federal regulators. Regulators in eight different states in the US had filed charges against Nexo stating that the company failed to register its Earn Interest Product.
“It is now unfortunately clear to us that despite rhetoric to the contrary, the US refuses to provide a path forward for enabling blockchain businesses, and we cannot give our customers confidence that regulators are focused on their best interests,” said Nexo.
The US regulators have been after a number of crypto businesses recently after the major crash in the crypto space last year. A lot of firms suspended customer withdrawals after facing liquidity challenges in the market.