Two Italians at the centre of a two-billion-euro mafia money-laundering probe ran Scottish shell firms, the Herald can reveal.
Michele Scognamiglio - dubbed the “wizard of recycling” by the Naples press - and Marco Spinola were arrested at the end of last month as part of a major ongoing international investigation.
The pair are the lead suspects in an alleged transnational scheme to clean dirty money, including for people connected to the Cosa Nostra, Camorra and 'ndrangheta crime gangs.
They are alleged to have done so through a complex corporate web, crypto-currencies and a now closed Lithuanian e-money institution or EMI called Trustcom Financial UAB.
Mr Scognamiglio and Mr Spinola were also directors of a company called Trustcom Ltd long registered at a virtual office in the heart of Glasgow, according to Britain’s corporate register.
Their Scottish limited company - whose relationship with the Latvian firm of a similar name is unclear - is now in liquidation.
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It owes £7.6m in unpaid value-added and corporation tax, money which liquidators believe will never be recovered.
The two Italians were also listed as the persons of significant control of a now dissolved Scottish limited partnership called Silverton & Grant, public records show.
Mr Scognamiglio, 50, was seized and then remanded in custody after arriving at Naples Airport in late February from Riga.
In a statement issued on February 27, EuroJust, the European Union’s agency for criminal justice co-operation, said the arrests were the results of “concerted action” by law enforcement agencies in Italy, Latvia and Lithuania.
The agency added: “Since 2017, an estimated €2 billion has been laundered by two main suspects via a worldwide web of shell companies. The suspects, who now have been detained, offered money laundering online as a service to criminals.”
It added: “The financial institution offered money laundering as a service to thousands of criminals across the EU, by making fictitious financial transactions via the web of enterprises, which were run by strawmen.
“It advertised its alleged consultancy services online and was set up in Lithuania in 2016 by an Italian-based organised crime group (OCG)
“The financial institution was led by the two main suspects, who resided in Lithuania and Latvia. The OCG laundered the proceedings of a range of criminal activities, including tax evasion, cyber fraud, fake bankruptcy and organised crime such as drug trafficking.
“Part of the proceeds were injected into the Latvian and Lithuanian economies via the purchase of real estate and luxury vehicles.”
EuroJust did not name Mr Scognamiglio or Mr Spinola or Trustcom Financial UAB. Italian authorities, however, did so.
At a press conference in Naples, the city’s chief prosecutor, Nicola Gratteri, said more than half of the clients of the alleged money-laundering scheme were Italian.
These included individuals with criminal convictions, some connected with the mafia, but also white collars, professionals, consultants, doctors and lawyers, according to a report of the press conference from the Italian wire agency Ansa.
One of the many individuals under investigation in Italy is a son of the boss of the Santapaola mafia clan from Sicily, Ansa reported. The man, who has not been named, has no criminal convictions.
Benedetto or Nitto Santapaolo - currently 85 and in prison - is considered one of the most dangerous and bloody leaders of the Cosa Nostra.
His clan, with fresh leadership, still preys on the Sicilian city of Catania.
The Cronache della Campania newspaper, citing the special financial police Guarda di Finanza, added that Mr Scognamiglio, Mr Spinola and their associates also provided services to the Casalesi clan of the Camorra, the main Naples organised crime gang, and the Calabrian mafia, the ‘ndrangheta.
The paper also said the alleged gang provided services to an essay mill in Reggio Calabria and a Neapolitan businessman who has been at the centre of a multi-million-euro tax evasion investigation.
EuroJust said that millions of pounds of property or cash had been seized or frozen as part of a day of action on February 27.
The Lithuanian central bank stripped Trustcom Financial UAB of its EMI licence in March 2022, saying the institution “may have organised money laundering and no longer meet the statutory requirements of good repute”. Bankruptcy proceedings were opened.
Mr Scognamiglio and Mr Spinola’s Scottish company Trustcom Ltd went in to liquidation in November 2022 after a winding-up petition by HMRC a month earlier.
Trustcom Ltd in filings to Companies House described itself as being involved “information servives” and “activities of financial services holding companies”.
It filed micro-company accounts saying it had net capital and reserves of £300,000.
Alistair McAlinden of Interpath Advisory was appointed interim and then permanent liquidator.
In two statutory progress reports the veteran accountant suggested far more money was going through Trustcom Ltd. He said HMRC was owned £7.6m, including £4.7m in VAT.
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Mr McAlinden, in his reports, added: “I have written to the directors, who appear to be based in Latvia, and have requested information pertaining to the affairs of the company. I await a response.
“Consequently, the information pertaining to the Company’s affairs is extremely limited at this time.”
The veteran accountant added that the company was registered at a PO Box. This was at the Blue Square virtual office at 272 Bath Street, Glasgow.
Silverton & Grant LP was dissolved in February 2020. It was registered at an accounting firm in Main Street, Douglas, South Lanarkshire.
Mr Scognamiglio and Mr Spinola and some of their named associates control or have controlled other UK corporate vehicles over the years.
Mr Scognamiglio, meanwhile, has published a book online on how to set up international shell firms, offshore accounts and anonymous plastic payment cards.
Originally from Ercolano, the Naples suburb in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, Mr Scognamiglio had been living in the Baltics for some years, according to his social media profile.
Naples newspapers said some of the work for the alleged money-laundering operation was carried out in Ercolano and neighbouring Portici.
Mr Scapola was originally from Puglia but had also been living in the Baltic region. Prosecutors from Lecce, Puglia, as well as Naples, Riga and Vilnius in Lithuania were involved in the joint operation.
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