*Robbing a bank can't begin to compare to coding and owning one.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/05/bank-of-the-underworld/389555/
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"Little did Budovsky realize, but the Secret Service had been keeping an eye on Liberty Reserve since at least 2010. As part of its investigation, agents tested just how carefully Liberty Reserve vetted its users. An agent tried opening an account with the name “Joe Bogus” and an address of “123 Fake Main Street” in “Completely Made Up City.” The agent also named the account “ToStealEverything” and wrote that it would be used for “shady things.” He encountered no problems, and the account was soon functional.
"By 2011, a Secret Service agent who was a member of the multiagency Global Illicit Financial Team (GIFT) had suggested that Liberty Reserve would make a good target for the group. GIFT was created to investigate multinational financial-crime cases, especially those involving organized-crime syndicates. The team draws its members from the Secret Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the IRS’s Criminal Investigation Division. The group soon set its sights on Liberty Reserve.
"By the government’s assessment, the Liberty Reserve investigation is one of the largest money-laundering probes ever conducted. Classic money-laundering schemes involve businesses that run largely on cash—tanning salons, car washes, casinos—where the dirty money simply mixes in with the clean. In the age of global finance, though, money laundering typically involves shell companies and offshore bank accounts. Liberty Reserve appeared to be a key component in the process—a conduit for criminals to move money across borders without leaving a trace.
"In going after Liberty Reserve, the element of surprise would be crucial: authorities needed to act before the main players had a chance to take their money and run. Even more important, authorities would need to seize Liberty Reserve’s servers before anyone could destroy the data they held. The servers were the holy grail. They contained information on all 1 million users and their 5.1 million accounts—evidence that might incriminate not just those running Liberty Reserve but any criminals who used the system. Such sensitive information can often be sabotaged remotely, with the click of a button.
"The GIFT investigation revealed that Liberty Reserve had never shut down in Costa Rica. Instead, it had continued operating with a pared-down staff in office space also used by another company Budovsky owned. But apparently an exit plan was under way. According to U.S. investigators, Budovsky and his associates had begun emptying the company’s bank accounts in Costa Rica, transferring millions of dollars first to a shell account in Cyprus and then to another one in Russia. Ultimately, U.S. officials believe, Budovsky dispersed Liberty Reserve funds into more than two dozen bank accounts in Hong Kong, China, Morocco, Australia, and Spain. At the urging of the United States, Costa Rican officials seized roughly $20 million of Liberty Reserve’s money.
"Budovsky denies that he was trying to drain the company’s coffers; he says the funds were wired to Cyprus because the company was transferring assets to its new owner. What’s more, he says, Liberty Reserve’s move to Cyprus was delayed precisely because so much of its money had been seized. In any case, Budovsky remained safe from U.S. authorities as long as he stayed in Costa Rica. But, as one U.S. investigator told me, officials simply had to be patient. “Everyone travels,” he said. “Especially if they have money.”
"Budovsky, in fact, traveled all the time. He had two other tech businesses—one specializing in IT services and the other in encryption—that were based in Europe and required his presence. But it was a vacation, a 10‑day trip to Morocco in May 2013, that led to his undoing. He had a layover in Madrid on his way home. As soon as the plane landed, Budovsky told me, “I saw cars and agents outside the plane window.”…"
