Involvement of WhiteBIT in the coup d’état is likely to be investigated by the Special State Prosecutor’s Office of Montenegro

Involvement of WhiteBIT in the coup d’état is likely to be investigated by the Special State Prosecutor’s Office of Montenegro

A request from the Ukrainian public organization UNION OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Montenegro regarding the alleged involvement of the cryptocurrency exchange WhiteBIT in the attempted coup d’état in the country in 2016 has been forwarded to the Special State Prosecutor’s Office for further action.

This is stated in the response from the General Prosecutor’s Office of Montenegro, as reported by ZN.

In the appeal, the UNION OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE requests to verify the facts published in Ukrainian media about the activities of the cryptocurrency exchange WhiteBit.

The request states that the beneficial owners of the allegedly British WhiteBIT Solutions LLP are Whitebit LTD and Coddan Nominee. Both companies have the same legal address in the Seychelles, where the offshore registrar Nobel Capital Group is registered.

’Coddan Nominee is part of an extensive offshore network and is among the founders of the company Sofbiz. According to investigative journalists, they are suspected of financing the 2016 coup in Montenegro. Local investigators have allegedly discovered that the 1.5 million euros invested in the coup by Sofbiz were intended for the assassination of the then Prime Minister, and later the Montenegrin President, Milo Đukanović,’ the request states.

The appeal also emphasizes that the crypto exchange WhiteBit allegedly continues to operate actively in Russia.

To support this fact, data is provided that in mid-March 2023, an atypical movement of a large amount of money — 3299 BTC (approximately 85.6 million dollars) in bitcoins, which belonged to the Russian crypto exchange BTC-e, was recorded and had previously remained immobile.

’Russian IT journalists noted that they were broken down into smaller amounts and withdrawn through various services. It was reported that the founder of the BTC-e exchange, Russian Aleksandr Vinnik, was extradited to the USA in the summer of 2022 for financial fraud and laundering $4 billion. He faces up to 55 years in prison. Specialists in the Russian crypto market noticed that out of almost 86 million dollars, about $12 million could have been transferred to the WhiteBIT exchange. This may indicate that this allegedly Ukrainian exchange has close ties with the Russian Federation and is supported by the dirty money of a person facing life imprisonment in the United States,’ the informational request states.

The UNION OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE asks the General Prosecutor’s Office of Montenegro to provide a response and indicate whether they are aware of Coddan Nominee, which may be involved in the attempted coup in the country, continuing its activities through the cryptocurrency exchange WhiteBit and continuing to operate in the Russian market.