A network of shell companies, international remittance services, intermediary bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets has landed two Kenyans in the crosshairs of investigators, who have frozen Sh115 million linked to them after tracing what they believe was a sophisticated money-laundering operation involving more than Sh300 million.
The frozen cash includes stablecoins in Binance wallets; $751,853.70 USDT (Sh97.2 million) linked to Glory Kithure and $896 USDT (Sh115,852) linked to Michael Machimbo.
It also comprises Sh17.6 million in cash, spread across nine accounts in Equity Bank, Stanbic, NCBA, KCB, and Absa.
Court documents obtained by the Business Daily detail how Michael and Glory allegedly received millions of shillings through a multi-layered network of intermediaries, shell companies, and crypto exchanges.
In an affidavit filed by the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA), investigators detail how the scheme operated through two parallel channels. The first involved six people and two companies, who carried out money transfers into Kenya via international remittance services.
Two people, Justice Gaturu and Richard Mwangi, and two companies, DigitalMall Global Ltd and Bitflux Fintech Ltd, were the source of funds. Money from the duo was wired through two other individuals identified as Patrick Mwendwa and Purity Michael, before eventually ending up in Michael and Glory’s bank accounts.
Money from the two companies was wired directly to their accounts.
Between October 2022 and January 2024, for instance, Michael is said to have received Sh80.7 million to his Equity Bank accounts from Purity and another intermediary identified as Kevin Kipngeno.
Some Sh17 million was also wired to his Stanbic Bank account from Bitflux Fintech Ltd during the same period.
Between July 2022 and May 2025, Glory received Sh53.6 million, where investigators pieced together 57 bank transfers, all between Sh10,000 and Sh550,000, well below the reporting threshold.
In Kenya, cash transactions of $15,000 (Sh1.9 million) or more must be reported to the Financial Reporting Centre (FRC). Cross-border transfers of $10,000 (Sh1.3 million) or more also require reporting.
This is to assist the State agency in identifying the proceeds of crime and combating money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing.
“The repeated use of amounts just below the reporting threshold is consistent with the structuring of transactions to avoid regulatory reporting requirements,” the ARA says in the court filings.
“When considered together with the subsequent movement of the funds through additional intermediary accounts before reaching the respondents, it constitutes a recognised indicator of the layering stage of money laundering.”
In one example, Justice received two payments of Sh454,769 and Sh454,259 from the US payments platform Chime Inc. into his Equity Bank account on November 3 and 6, 2023.
He then transferred Sh1.1 million in three instalments to Patrick's Equity Bank account between November 4 and 7.
Patrick subsequently forwarded the money to Purity in three transactions of Sh300,000, Sh300,000 and Sh400,000 between November 6 and 8. Purity then transferred Sh500,000 each on November 6 and 7 to Glory’s Equity Bank account.
According to investigators, Glory withdrew Sh100,000 to M-Pesa and used the remaining funds for purchases, spending and transfers to other bank accounts, including Michael’s.
Court documents further show that Glory later transferred Sh5.25 million to Aristocars Ltd on December 2, 2023, in what investigators believe was the purchase of a motor vehicle.
Detectives cite the transaction as part of a pattern in which funds were allegedly moved through several accounts before being spent or invested in assets.
In a separate illustration, Justice received Sh453,029 from the international money transfer app Sendwave and Sh890,000 from one Cosmas Gatuyu before transferring Sh1.4 million to Patrick, who in turn sent Sh900,000 to Purity.
Purity then transferred Sh950,000 to the first respondent's Equity Bank account, which investigators say later accumulated sufficient funds to pay Sh9.38 million to Ace Prestige Auto Ltd on July 18, 2024, ostensibly to purchase another motor vehicle.
“Investigations are underway to obtain documents and records of transactions traced to international remittance services, including a Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) request to the United States of America dispatched in May 2026,” reads court papers.
An MLA request is a formal, government-to-government process used to gather evidence or legal documents from one country to aid in a criminal investigation or prosecution in another country.
The second money-laundering channel relied on USD Tether (USDT), a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar. The digital currency was moved through multiple accounts on the Binance crypto exchange platform to distance the funds from their origin.
The crypto scheme involved Michael, Glory, Kevin and three others identified as Samuel Simiyu, Wanza Mutuku and Eliud Korir.
Investigators say the stablecoins were transferred from an account on the crypto app NoOnes, operated and controlled by Samuel and registered through Wanza’s identification details, to a Binance wallet Michael and Glory controlled.
The two then transferred most of the stablecoins to a Binance wallet Kevin controlled, and he converted the cryptocurrency into Kenyan shillings through Binance transactions before remitting the cash to the duo’s bank accounts.
Between June 2024 and September 2024, court papers show that Michael’s Binance wallet address received a total of USDT 220,508, equivalent to Sh28.5 million at current exchange rates, in 10 transactions.
From February 2023 to November 2025, meanwhile, the account withdrew or transferred a cumulative sum of USDT 899,130 (Sh116.3 million) through 107 transactions.
Glory’s Binance wallet was found to have received USDT 930,597 (Sh120.5 million) in 62 transactions between January 2023 and November 2025 and withdrawn or transferred USDT 178,491 (Sh23.1 million) between February 2023 and January 2026.
Investigators said they interviewed Samuel in May 2026, where he said he was a cryptocurrency trader. He admitted owning and controlling a NoOnes crypto exchange account registered using his wife Wanza's identification details and email address, according to the affidavit.
Samuel told investigators that he also owned and operated a crypto wallet on the global exchange platform OKX registered in his name. He admitted to owning an account on Paxful, a peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto marketplace that allows users to buy and sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies directly with each other.
Both accounts were linked to the same email address.
"He averred that Michael approached him with a deal to use his OKX, NoOnes and Paxful accounts to transfer crypto to [Michael and Glory]'s Binance wallets. However, he claimed that he did not know the sources of the crypto that [Michael] was laundering through his crypto accounts or wallets," the ARA says.
Wanza said while she had allowed her husband to use her email address to trade cryptocurrency on the Paxful and NoOnes platforms, she did not know the origin of the cryptocurrency that passed through those accounts.
“The evidence discloses a deliberate, multi-layered scheme through which large sums of money, whose origin the respondents have refused to explain, were received, moved through a chain of intermediary accounts designed to obscure their source, and ultimately deposited into the respondents’ Binance exchange accounts and bank accounts,” the affidavit says.
Neither Michael nor Glory offered any explanation for the transactions when interviewed. “Both exercised their right to remain silent, declining to offer any explanation, innocent or otherwise, for the funds they received,” the agency says.
While only Sh115 million has been frozen so far, the assets recovery body estimates that the combined value of property traceable to the two exceeds Sh300 million.
The court on July 3 granted a 90-day preservation order on the funds while investigations continue.
“In addition, the respondents are being investigated for tax evasion, having transacted cumulative sums of more than Sh300 million but have consistently filed nil returns in their tax records at the Kenya Revenue Authority,” said the ARA.
