Russia-linked crooks bought a bank for Christmas to launder cyber loot

UK cops trace street-level crime to sanctions-busting networks tied to Moscow's war economy On Christmas Day 2024, a Russian-linked laundering network bought itself a very special present: a controlling stake in a Kyrgyzstan bank, later used to wash cybercrime profits and funnel money into Moscow's war machine, according to the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA).