Security firm and classic car business ‘washed millions in dirty cash’
Four people have been arrested after a security company, a classic car dealership and a sales promotion firm were allegedly used in a Queensland-based money-laundering scheme.
A security company, a classic car dealership and a sales promotion firm were used in a Queensland-based money-laundering scheme that washed millions of dollars of criminal proceeds, police allege.
Four people including a Gold Coast husband and wife have been arrested after an 18-month investigation into the scheme, involving money being left at “dead drop” locations around the country.
Police have restrained assets across Queensland and NSW worth a combined $21m, including 17 properties, bank accounts and vehicles.
The source of $190m in cash that was transferred into cryptocurrency by the security business is being investigated.
Aleksander Alincic, 32, from Heathwood in southwest Brisbane, was allegedly a major client of the money-laundering operation and washed $9.5m in 15 months, police allege.
Mr Alincic was charged on Thursday, June 5, with money-laundering and failing to provide the password to a mobile phone. He has been remanded in custody and faced Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday.
More than 70 members of the Queensland Joint Organised Crime Taskforce, comprising federal and state police, Australian Border Force, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, Austrac and the Australian Taxation Office, executed 14 search warrants at homes and businesses across Brisbane and the Gold Coast on Thursday and Friday last week.
The taskforce began investigating suspicious financial transactions in December 2023.
Mr Alincic was allegedly linked to a company that had received millions of dollars in suspicious third-party transactions.
“Investigators following the money trail allegedly identified the man was a customer of a sophisticated money-laundering operation allegedly being run through the armoured transport unit of a security company that transferred $190m cash into cryptocurrency,” an Australian Federal Police statement reads.
“Investigations into the source of the $190m converted into cryptocurrency by the security company remain ongoing.”
Gold Coast man Daniel Ware, 48, and his wife Nicole, 35, the director and general manager respectively of the security business, were charged on Friday with money-laundering.
The couple, from Maudsland, was granted watch-house bail. They are scheduled to face Southport Magistrates Court in July.
Another Brisbane man, Peter Nolan, 58, from West End, is accused of funnelling laundered money through a business account to a separate business account controlled by Mr Alincic.
Mr Nolan was charged on Friday with two counts of dealing with proceeds of crime worth $1m or more, one count of uttering a forged document and one of dealing with identification information to commit or facilitate an offence. A maximum 12-year prison sentence is attached to the proceeds of crime offences.
He was granted watchhouse bail and is set to face Brisbane Magistrates Court on August 1.
“The QJOCTF alleges the Gold Coast-based security company used a complex network of bank accounts, businesses, couriers and cryptocurrency accounts to launder millions of dollars of illicit funds over 18 months,” the AFP said.
“The security company, which transferred cash between businesses and banks, allegedly mixed cash from its legitimate business arm with illicit funds deposited by suspected criminals. To further obfuscate the source of the funds from law enforcement, the security company allegedly channelled the money through a web of transactions including through a sales promotion company, a classic car dealership and cryptocurrency exchange services.
“The organisation then paid out the funds to beneficiaries using cryptocurrency or those third-party companies.”
Mr Alincic allegedly controlled the sales promotion company and received about $9.5m in cash and cryptocurrency originating from the security company over 15 months.
The taskforce will allege he attempted to distance himself from the money-laundering scheme by setting his wife up as a “straw director” of the promotions company, while he maintained effective control.
Mr Nolan was the director of a classic car dealership that received about $6.4m from the security company and laundered it through his business over a 17-month period, police allege.
He allegedly opened at least seven bank accounts with different banks to conceal the source of the money as he moved it around. “The illicit money was then allegedly mixed with legitimate money from the car dealership before being transferred to the sales promotions business,” the AFP said.
The security company was also allegedly a front for moving millions of dollars of illicit cash from other states to southeast Queensland for laundering.
“The cash, which was allegedly generated by organised criminal ventures, was left at dead drop locations around the country and collected by a network of couriers who sent it as domestic cargo on flights to Queensland. It was then collected by the security company’s couriers in southeast Queensland,” the AFP said.
AFP Detective Superintendent Adrian Telfer said money-laundering investigations were “incredibly challenging due to the complex web of deception used by criminals, and this crime cannot be tackled by one agency alone”.
Acting Superintendent David Briese, from the Queensland police drug and serious crime group, said criminal networks used money-laundering to legitimise their profits and exploit legitimate businesses, harming communities and economies.
“It fuels serious organised crime, enabling everything from drug trafficking and exploitation to fraud and violence,” Superintendent Briese said.
More Coverage
Torched cars, mass arrests after Auburn shooting
A police blitz has flung 24 people behind bars after a public shooting in Auburn linked to organised crime left three in hospital and an innocent woman comatose.
Deadly death cap mushrooms found growing in NSW
Deadly death cap mushroom have been found growing in parts of NSW, leading authorities to warn people against eating wild mushrooms.