Belgium Probes Wise Over €500 Million in Suspected Money Laundering

5 articles · Updated · The Bureau of Investigative Journalism · Jun 1

Belgian prosecutors opened the Wise investigation last year after the company’s accounts appeared in hundreds of cross-border criminal-assistance requests involving more than 30 European countries.
€500 million in transactions is under scrutiny for possible links to fraud, corruption and drug trafficking, with prosecutors examining signs of non-compliance with anti-money laundering rules in Wise’s European operations.
Wise said it is cooperating with the Brussels prosecutor and noted that its Belgian office handles law-enforcement requests across the European Economic Area, while its 3 million UK users are managed separately from London.
Earlier AML concerns add context: Belgian regulators in 2024 ordered remediation over customer address checks, and Wise’s U.S. unit was fined $4.2 million last year for Bank Secrecy Act and AML violations.
The case lands as UK authorities rate electronic-money firms as a high money-laundering risk, reflecting growing concern that cross-border payment platforms are increasingly attractive to criminals.

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