Drug Cartels Are Embracing Crypto and Freelance Money Launderers

The pitch was simple: Crypto for “cold hard cash.” No names. No questions asked.

Illustration: Zach Hackman for Bloomberg Businessweek

David Scotese posted his ads online, but the transactions played out in the open, at Victory Park in Murrieta, California. The park was the heart of the community. Soccer games on the lawn. Birthday parties in the shade of a gazebo. And there in the parking lot, Scotese in a 10-year-old maroon Honda Accord.

Omny Studio: Drug Cartels Are Embracing Crypto and...

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In person he was an unassuming suburbanite with wire-rimmed glasses and neatly parted hair. But on LocalMonero.co, an online matchmaker ...