The United States has already two years after Maximilian Rivkina “transnational criminal” who escaped in 2021 and for whom he now offers a 5 million dollar reward. This was published by the US government this Wednesday in a statement in which it gives more details about its appearance.
The man is Swedish and has different aliases and names he uses to avoid discovery, but the US found him by marketing an encrypted communications network for drug traffickers, unaware that the technology was developed by the FBI, the federal law enforcement agency.
According to the State Department, he was born on July 14, 1983, is 1.85 meters tall and has scars on the left knee, the fingers of the right hand and a tattoo of three monkeys on his right arm.
some of his alias are Maximillian Rivkin, Maximilan Rivkin or Milos Jankovic, but can also be identified by the following nicknames: Maximilan, Malmo, Teamsters, Malmö and Microsoft.
“If you have any information, please contact the American investigators by email to [email protected] or with the Swedish investigators by email at [email protected],” they explain. Likewise, if they are outside the US, citizens can also go to the embassy or consulate from the United States or Sweden closest.
the ANOM network
Maximilian Rivkin, is in search and capture from the dismantling of the ANOM network in 2021, an international operation that allowed the arrest of 800 people on three continents, as well as the seizure of 38 tons of drugs and 48 million dollars in various currencies, reports AFP.
Rivkin was named in a US indictment at the time for trafficking, money laundering and organized crimeas part of Operation Trojan Shield, and has been labeled a “transnational criminal.”
He fell into an FBI trap
“Rivkin was an administrator and influencer of an encrypted communication service used by criminals around the world,” the State Department details in its reward announcement.
“His communications on the platform implicated him in various nefarious activities, including his alleged involvement in drug trafficking, money laundering, conspiracy to murder and other violent acts,” they explain. The department believes that the Swede, without his knowledge, was a central piece of the operation carried out by the FBI.
In 2018, the law enforcement agency forced a man who had built encrypted phones for criminals to develop an updated version for which the fbi would have the only digital master keywhich would allow them to collect and read all communications through the system.
With the help of man, the system was marketed as ANOM and was promoted by criminal “influencers” unsuspecting like Rivkin, who took a leading role in convincing others to use it.
According to the US Department of Justice, more than 12,000 ANOM phones were sold to 2,000 criminal groups operating in more than 100 countries, including Italian organized crime, criminal motorcycle gangs, and international drug cartels. Of those, the FBI collected 27 million messages, related to operations large and small.
www.abc.es
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism