$2m cash and $400k crypto: GC legal office and luxury home raided

The case against a Russian couple accused of laundering millions of dollars in cash and cryptocurrency was “complex in nature”, a Gold Coast court has heard.

Two Russian nationals accused of laundering millions of dollars in cash and cryptocurrency have faced court on the Gold Coast.

It comes after a Gold Coast legal office was raided and more than $2 million in cash and cryptocurrency seized from a home by the AFP following a money laundering investigation on the Glitter Strip.

Two Russian nationals were issued with a notice to appear in court in December 2023 after the AFP located about $1.95 million in cash and about $425,000 in cryptocurrency, as well as substantial financial records, during a search warrant at a home in Hope Island on the Gold Coast.

Dimitry Rimskiy, 49, and Alexandra Pavlovna Bugrova, 46, appeared in the Commonwealth Court on Monday. They were represented by Sydney barrister George Thomas, who requested a full brief of evidence be provided by investigators by April 29.

However, Commonwealth Prosecutor Samuel O’Brien said the complex nature of the investigation - including the seizure of many documents not written in English, meant it may take longer to provide a full brief of the case against the pair.

Dimitry Rimskiy leaves court after he appeared accused of laundering millions of dollars in cash and cryptocurrency.

Rimskiy and Bugrova, a couple with four children who have been permanent residents of Australia since 2015, were ordered to surrender their passports and not approach any international points of departure.

The case will return to court on June 3.

Police will allege the pair laundered the alleged illicit cash by visiting various financial institution branches and automatic teller machines in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia, conducting hundreds of cash deposits during 2022.

Police will also allege each of the cash deposits was kept under $10,000 in an effort to avoid detection by authorities.

More than $2 million in cash and cryptocurrency seized from a home by the AFP following a money laundering investigation on the Gold Coast. Picture: AFP

Officers from the Gold Coast Joint Organised Crime Taskforce (GC JOCTF) executed search warrants at the Hope Island home on December 4, 2023, and a Gold Coast legal office.

Neither the legal office nor its employees are accused of any wrongdoing.

The man and woman are each facing three counts of dealing in the proceeds of crime – money or property worth $1,000,000 or more.

AFP Detective Superintendent Adrian Telfer said money laundering undermined Australia’s national security, the economy and social security system.

“Money laundering syndicates are sophisticated, international groups with one purpose – to provide a shadow economy enabling more crime,’’ Detective Superintendent Telfer said.

“While law-abiding Australians are paying their taxes and being good community citizens, organised crime gangs are using money gained illegally to increase their wealth.

“They are buying homes, commercial property and living large without the financial pressures felt by ordinary Australians.

“The money that is laundered through our economy bankrolls their lavish lifestyles and funds future crime.”

Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the allegations against two Russian nationals highlighted the need for Australia’s anti money-laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws to be updated.

“As the AFP has said, money laundering undermines Australia’s national security, the economy and social security system,” Mr Dreyfus said.

“The AFP has highlighted how money is laundered through the Australian economy, bankrolling the lavish lifestyles of criminals which includes buying up local real estate, while ordinary Australians are doing it tough.”

Speaking in general terms, Mr Dreyfus said the former government had “failed to act” leaving Australia “vulnerable to exploitation by transnational, serious and organised crime groups and terrorists and exposing us to possible international sanctions”.

“This failure left Australia as one of only five jurisdictions, out of more than 200, that does not regulate real estate agents, lawyers and accountants,” he said.

“The Albanese Government is now consulting on major reforms to Australia’s anti money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime which would harden Australia’s businesses and sectors against criminal exploitation.”

The GC JOCTF is a multi-agency taskforce comprised of members of the AFP, Queensland Police Service (QPS), Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC), Department of Home Affairs (DHA), Australian Border Force (ABF), Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).