Troika Ties and Coastal Villas: Spain Cracks Down on Russian Money Laundering Through Luxury Real Estate

Spanish authorities have launched a sweeping anti-money laundering crackdown targeting a sophisticated scheme involving luxury real estate acquisitions allegedly linked to the Troika Laundromat network. In a coordinated move, Spain’s Anti-Corruption Prosecutor and the Audiencia Nacional have opened an extensive investigation into a series of high-value property purchases believed to serve as conduits for laundering suspicious Russian funds.

At the center of this operation is Dmitry Artyakov, the son of Vladimir Artyakov—a top executive at Russia’s state-owned defense firm Rostec. Spanish investigators allege that Dmitry Artyakov funneled millions of euros through complex real estate deals on Spain’s northeastern coastline to disguise the illicit origin of the funds. Following months of cross-border intelligence gathering and forensic financial analysis, Artyakov was arrested at his Girona residence. Prosecutors believe he was instrumental in executing a sophisticated laundering operation stretching from Moscow to Catalonia.

Law enforcement reports indicate that between 2005 and 2008, Artyakov acquired at least eight properties in the upscale Castell-Platja d’Aro area. The transactions, totaling approximately €14 million, were conducted under the name of his grandmother, Ana Kurepina—an arrangement authorities view as part of a broader effort to obscure beneficial ownership. Investigators discovered that the money used to finance the purchases was funneled through shell entities connected to the Troika Laundromat, including the offshore vehicle Delco Networks SA, which wired more than 20 transfers to Kurepina. These payments, typically framed as “loans,” were never repaid, raising further red flags.

The broader Troika Laundromat network—uncovered in 2019 through joint investigations by financial intelligence units and investigative journalists—is a sprawling offshore architecture that facilitated the movement of billions of dollars from Russia to jurisdictions across Europe, often through fictitious loans, shell companies, and nominee directors. Entities operating within the Laundromat, many of which were registered in secrecy havens such as the British Virgin Islands and Panama, allowed elites and politically exposed persons (PEPs) to bypass oversight and launder wealth into Western financial and property markets. According to investigators, “the layering strategy employed by these shell companies was textbook money laundering—opaque, deceptive, and deeply entrenched.”

Spanish prosecutors are treating this case as emblematic of the vulnerabilities that still plague the EU real estate sector when it comes to illicit capital flows. The luxury property market, especially in areas like Barcelona, the Balearics, and the Costa Brava, has long been a magnet for foreign capital—and not all of it clean. “Real estate has always been a favored channel for laundering due to its ability to absorb large sums and mask ownership through intermediaries,” one Spanish law enforcement official noted.

Dmitry Artyakov is also currently under U.S. sanctions, and his father’s high-ranking role in Rostec—an entity sanctioned over Russia’s military-industrial complex—adds geopolitical weight to the investigation. The European Union’s sanctions framework, particularly under Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 and its later revisions, prohibits sanctioned individuals and their close associates from benefiting from EU-based assets or services. Still, enforcement is often complicated by the use of proxies, relatives, and intricate offshore layering structures. In the Artyakov case, it is precisely these methods that allegedly allowed him to remain under the radar for over a decade.

In Spain, the regulatory backbone against money laundering is Law 10/2010 on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. This legislation requires notaries, attorneys, and real estate professionals to conduct customer due diligence, report suspicious transactions to the Executive Service for the Prevention of Money Laundering (SEPBLAC), and verify beneficial ownership. Under the EU’s Fifth and Sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directives (AMLD5 and AMLD6), Spain is obligated to apply enhanced scrutiny to transactions involving PEPs, high-risk third countries, or significant cross-border financial activity. In practice, however, opaque property registries and inconsistent implementation across jurisdictions have created enforcement blind spots.

Investigators say that in the Artyakov case, multiple hallmarks of suspicious real estate activity were evident—shell companies with no identifiable commercial purpose, transactions routed through multiple jurisdictions, and buyers linked to sanctioned individuals. These are all classic indicators of laundering that compliance professionals are trained to detect.

The investigation also illustrates how legacy laundering networks like the Troika Laundromat continue to have a lasting impact. Many of the property deals currently under scrutiny occurred years before the network was publicly exposed, but the funds remain parked in valuable real estate assets today. “These cases show that the past is not dead—illicit funds invested a decade ago continue to pose threats to financial integrity,” noted one financial crime expert familiar with the case.

The European Union has been ramping up its AML/CFT defenses in recent years. The creation of the Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA), headquartered in Frankfurt, is meant to unify enforcement across the bloc, improve data-sharing between member states, and establish centralized beneficial ownership registries. The AMLA is expected to take a leading role in coordinating cross-border investigations like this one, where the complexity of the transactions and the international reach of the laundering networks exceed national capabilities.

Nevertheless, implementation remains a challenge. Shell companies, nominee owners, and facilitators—often professionals in law, finance, or real estate—continue to shield the true origin of funds. “Even the most robust compliance programs can be frustrated by deliberate obfuscation,” a Spanish anti-corruption official explained. This is why Europol and Eurojust were brought in to assist in the Artyakov probe, enabling law enforcement agencies across Europe to share data and synchronize legal strategies.

The Spanish case is a wake-up call for regulators, compliance officers, and the broader real estate industry. It underscores the need for continuous training, robust transaction monitoring systems, and closer cooperation between the public and private sectors. As criminals become more sophisticated and geopolitical risks mount, the importance of real-time intelligence sharing and standardized reporting procedures has never been greater.

Ultimately, the arrest of Dmitry Artyakov serves as a stark reminder of how European property markets remain vulnerable to laundering schemes linked to global corruption and sanctioned actors. While Spain’s legal framework and cooperation with EU institutions show a commitment to rooting out illicit finance, the road ahead will require sustained vigilance and deeper regulatory coordination.

As the investigation unfolds, the message from authorities is clear: laundering schemes cloaked in luxury real estate and offshore secrecy will no longer go unnoticed. Spain’s aggressive pursuit of this case could serve as a model for other jurisdictions grappling with similar challenges and marks a pivotal moment in Europe’s broader fight against financial crime.

By fLEXI tEAM