After Office Raid, Bulgaria Drops All Charges Against Nexo

The prosecutor’s office of Bulgaria has dropped all charges against crypto lending giant Nexo after the company’s regional offices were raised by government authorities earlier this year.

In a private message to CryptoPotato, a company spokesperson confirmed that prosecutors found “no evidence” of crime, despite a range of former allegations including terrorist financing, and offering banking services without license.

Nexo Cleared Of All Accusations

Per the prosecution office’s statement on Friday, four individuals – including Nexo co-founder Antoni Trenchev – had been charged for participating in a profit-oriented “organized criminal group” between 2018 and January 2023.

Yet after nearly a year of investigations including forensic audits, seizures, interviews, and financial account monitoring, the office could find no dirt against Nexo under existing laws.

“On the basis of the established factual situation, the team of supervising prosecutors came to the conclusion that there was no evidence of committed crimes,” read a translated version of the agency’s statement.

Specifically, the body said it couldn’t identify complicity from Nexo in performing banking activities without a corresponding permit – nor of money laundering, computer fraud, or tax crimes.

The conclusion largely stemmed from Bulgaria’s lack of an existing regulatory regime for crypto assets, which “are not recognized as money, deposits or other recoverable funds in any EU country” according to the European Banking Authority.

Nexo was charged and fined by several federal and state regulatory authorities in the United States earlier this year for securities law violations but was still cleared of fraud or any misleading commercial practices.

The firm has since ended services in the United States amid overbearing regulatory pressures and confusion.

Vindicating Nexo

In a provided statement, Trenchev said that Bulgaria’s dropped charges helped confirm his initial claim that the entire investigation into his firm was politically motivated, and never should have happened at all.

“It also goes a long way in clearing our names and is a vindication for all good actors in crypto,” he said. “We are very content with this result.”

When first receiving the charges in January, Trenchev told CryptoPotato that they were politically motivated, designed to harm the reputation of a political party that had received donations from more than a dozen employees of Nexo.

Nexo currently serves over 6 million customers worldwide in over 200 jurisdictions, according to its website.