Estonian exchange company implicated in money laundering scheme
Tavid, Estonian exchange company, has been implicated in one the largest money laundering schemes in the history of the CEE region. This is the 2nd money laundering scheme with the participation od the Estonian exchange company in the past 3 years.
The company is claimed to receive a payment of 45 million kroons in late 2007 to its Nordea Bank account. This payment was made by Stern Treid LLC. Stern Treid LLC is a company that is partially owned by Yuri Kasjanov, a Russian citizen who is the subject of a major money laundering probe in Bulgaria. This company had signed a contract with Tavid under which the company was to transfer more than 200 million kroons to Tavid.
It is believed that the money has originated in Russia and has bee laundered through a series of fake sales agreements in Bulgaria to be transfered back to Russia through the Estonia company.