According to a statement from the US Department of Justice, US District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove sentenced Indian national Anurag Pramod Murarka to 121 months in prison on charges of conspiracy to launder money. Murarka, aged 30, is an international virtual currency provider operating under two nicknames ("elonmuskwhm" and "la2nyc").
According to recently released court documents, Murarka operated an international money laundering business from April 2021 until September 29, 2023. Murarka often promotes his services online in the dark web market, calling them money laundering services. Then, the customer will contact them through encrypted information to respond to these advertisements and negotiate exchange rates. After the exchange rate was determined, Murarka in India instructed its clients to send cryptocurrencies to certain cryptocurrency addresses. Then, Murarka arranged to deliver cash to his employees in the United States through a complex, pre arranged Indian Hawala operation. Murarka's employee network across the United States and overseas will collect cash from Murarka's Hawala relationships, then package the cash in various ways, including sandwiching it between pages and sealing it in multiple envelopes, before mailing it to customers.
Murarka charges service fees and uses a portion of them to bribe employees and accomplices. Murarka knew that many of his clients were involved in criminal activities, especially computer hacking and drug trafficking, so he knew that his business facilitated criminal activities by assisting in concealing the source of illegal activities. Murarka and his accomplices laundered over $20 million in total.
