Gold Coast cleaners: Inside Australia's $190 million crypto laundromat

A new chapter has been added to Australia’s sordid financial crime book - this time involving a suburban security company, classic cars, duffel bags of cash and nearly $200 million converted into cryptocurrency.

The setup

At the centre of the scheme was a Gold Coast-based security company licensed to handle physical cash movements between businesses and banks. But according to the Queensland Joint Organised Crime Taskforce (QJOCTF), the company was facilitating more than just secure transit. Over an 18-month period, it allegedly became the front for a complex laundering operation that converted $190 million in suspected illicit funds into cryptocurrency.

The laundering operation was dismantled in June 2025 following a multi-agency investigation led by the AFP’s Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce (CACT) and supported by AUSTRAC, the ATO, Border Force, and the ACIC under Taskforce Avarus, which targets priority money laundering threats across Australia.

How it worked

According to investigators, the company exploited its legitimate infrastructure to transport cash generated by organised criminal groups - particularly via domestic air cargo shipments sent from other Australian states to Queensland.

Once received, couriers employed by the security firm collected the money. The cash was then mixed with legitimate business takings in what amounts to a classic integration strategy, making the origin of the funds difficult to detect. Investigators believe dead drops were used in other parts of the country to discreetly pass on physical currency before it entered the laundering network.

“Dead drops are a hallmark of organised crime and something police have long been dealing with.”

- Detective Superintendent Adrian Telfer

The funds were laundered through a network of shell and active businesses including:

• A sales promotion company allegedly controlled by a 32-year-old man from Heathwood, which received $9.5 million in cash and crypto over 15 months
• A classic car dealership allegedly directed by a 58-year-old man from West End, which received $6.4 million over 17 months
• Multiple cryptocurrency exchange services, which enabled the final stage of laundering by converting fiat into digital assets

To obscure beneficial ownership and evade detection, the Heathwood man allegedly installed his wife as a “straw director” of the promotions company, while retaining effective control behind the scenes. Similarly, the West End director is accused of opening at least seven bank accounts across different institutions, layering funds to further distance them from their illicit origins. Some accounts were allegedly used to route funds back to the Heathwood man’s entities, completing the laundering cycle.

AUSTRAC’s intelligence team played a key role in identifying suspicious transaction patterns, many of which involved third-party payments lacking legitimate business purpose.

The seizure and charges

After months of forensic accounting and surveillance, 14 search warrants were executed on 5 & 6 June 2025 across Brisbane and the Gold Coast. The results:

• 17 properties, bank accounts, and vehicles worth $21 million were restrained
• Seizures included a $548,000 Lamborghini, encrypted devices, and crypto wallets holding $170,000
• $30,000 in physical cash was seized
• Business documents and financial records were recovered, detailing the alleged laundering structure

Four individuals were charged:

1. Heathwood man (32)  Client and Controller of the Sales Promotion Firm

• $9.5m laundered over 15 months
• Charged with:
  • Dealing with proceeds of crime (≥$1m) Max penalty: 12 years
  • Failure to comply with a 3LA Order. Max penalty: 10 years
• Allegedly refused to provide mobile phone password
• Remanded in custody

2. Maudsland man (48)  Director of Security Company

• Allegedly directed the $190m crypto laundering
• Charged with:
  • Dealing with proceeds of general crime (≥$10m) Max penalty: 15 years
• Granted watchhouse bail

3. Maudsland woman (35) General Manager of Security Company

• Allegedly managed day-to-day laundering activities
• Charged with:
  
  • Dealing with proceeds of general crime (≥$10m) Max penalty: life imprisonment
• Granted watch-house bail

4. West End man (58) Director of Classic Car Dealership

• Allegedly funnelled $6.4m through his dealership, then passed funds to the Heathwood man
• Charged with:
  
  • 2x Dealing with proceeds of crime (≥$1m)
  • Uttering (knowingly using or passing on) a forged document 
  • Dealing with identification information 
• Released on bail

Operational Tactics

The criminal operation used several tactics that are classic high-risk indicators relevant to AML professionals, including:

• Use of licensed entities to mask illicit financial flows
• Third-party remitters with no legitimate business relationship
• Front companies with straw directors
• Rapid turnover of cash-intensive business income
• Use of crypto exchange services as exit points
• Interstate movement of high-volume physical cash via cargo
• Multiple account layering across financial institutions

Investigators credited forensic accounting and inter-agency digital intelligence with uncovering the network. AUSTRAC noted that reporting entities played a key role through timely SMR submissions, which helped map out the laundering structure.

If Tranche 2 reforms had already been in place, the laundering network would likely have triggered earlier detection - particularly as the charged individuals attempted to incorporate shell companies, engage real estate professionals for high-value property acquisitions and enlist accountants to legitimise financial statements, all of which would have required AML/CTF checks under the proposed regime.

A coordinated strike

Taskforce Avarus, a highly-skilled, multi-agency taskforce targeting money laundering in Australia, said this investigation marked one of its most resource-intensive operations to date.

“Money laundering isn’t a victimless crime. It legitimises criminal profits, distorts the economy and enables drug trafficking, fraud, exploitation and violence.”

- Det A/Supt David Briese of the QPS.

AUSTRAC’s Markus Erikson praised the “vivid intelligence trail” that led to disruption of the criminal activity and the role of industry in flagging unusual activity.

The aftermath

Detective Superintendent Adrian Telfer of the AFP summed it up clearly:

“This investigation has unravelled a sophisticated operation that allegedly moved illicit cash around the country using couriers, before washing it through a network of seemingly legitimate businesses in south-east Queensland.”

The investigation is ongoing, and authorities believe further arrests are likely. The total scale of the laundering network and where the original funds came from, is still being pieced together.

Timely reminder for soon to be regulated entities

For companies, and their soon to be appointed AMLCOs, this case is a reminder that:

• Traditional transport and logistics businesses are vulnerable to exploitation
• Crypto remains the preferred exit route for large-scale laundering
• False directorships and shell entities remain active typologies
• Detection relies on multi-agency collaboration, advanced analytics, and proactive reporting by regulated entities