Well said as usual Ben!I'm not sure why @Dickwang is so fascinated by the 33 yr old woman brought up in the article? I take that back. Its just a lack of understanding what a person like that woman is used for. She, and others like her, aren't the masterminds of anything.
Over the years, whether the leader of the operation(UGL) is here in the USA or Germany, or wherever, Raw Powders and supplies are needed to brew and then receivers have been needed to collect proceeds from sales of product.
We don't see groups of Receivers any longer picking up Western Unions, MoneyGrams, or Walmart 2 Walmart because Cryptocurrecy has replaced the other ways proceeds are collected.
Its a lot less hectic for owners of the UGL. They don't have people chasing hundred dollar bills around any longer. Years ago we used to use Test ?'s and Answers to those Test ?s to send and pick up cash. Senders would forget to mark "No ID required" for pickup and the Receivers would come back with half of the amount of $$ they were supposed to have and emails were sent to Senders who would have to go back out and get a refund and start the process over again.
Many times the people picking up these money transfers were friends/family of the UGL ower. Then it was friends of the friends who knew nothing of the operation. They only new that they were going to take a % off the total amount they picked up. They didn't care either. They just wanted the extra income.
These days, its much easier for the #1's to collect funds. It goes right into the digital wallets they send to each customer. LE knows this,too. Its a lot easier for them. Proceeds are with the boss and they know its crypto. If the owner of the UGL has made it difficult for LE to get LE is going to press them. They are going to threaten the family members of the ugl owner in custody. That hasn't changed. If the owner has ever helped a family member with any amount of money for anything its co-mingling proceeds of the illegal operation and they will take the personal property of family members. You'll notice that LE is most times getting that crypto. Maybe there is some hidden? If they have been under investigation there are gov't accountants(IRS) that are highly skilled and through forensic accounting(if necessary) they get down to within a few dollars of what the operation has taken in.
I think I read about pkg's in the story that named this 33 yr old woman. In all liklihood she is one of the people who received mail and overseas pkg's. There may have been others but she is most likely the one who had raws intercepted by Customs. Most of us get a Love Letter(seizure letter) telling us our pkg was seized and that's the end of it. The amount of Raws was such that it raised red flags. That or multiple smaller pkg's of Raws were going to her address. An investigation started and these pkg's were allowed to continue on to the address until the day came last week when the authories wrapped things up.
That woman may not have had any idea what was in those pkg's. Those pkg's, most likely, were the catalyst that started the investigation in July. Traditionally, here in the USA, the receivers of the raw steroid powders were the downfall of the UGL's that have been busted over the years. The feds will roll up on the individual who accepted the raws and they, in short order, start talking within minutes of being confronted and do everything LE asks of them wanting to minimize the amount of trouble for themselves.
Those receiving raws are paid for each pkg they receive. It got to be a suicide mission with the Research Chems(bath salts) and then the Fentanyl coming from China. Pkg's coming from China have been red flagged for a long time here. The same labs producing the Research Chems and Fentanyl produce the Raw Steroid powders. The Steroids were collateral damage.
Back befor ORD(operation raw deal) we had Operation Gear Grinder. The feds here in the USA got cooperation from Mexican Authorites to shut down the plants that made the Vet steroids we loved so much. It wasn't the steroids that started it. The same plants making the gear also made the Ketamine that white kids were using. That's what did it.
I'm speculating about the 33 yr old woman. My scenario is more likely based on the past.