U.S. Offers $5 Mln Reward For Sweden-Based Transnational Criminal

The United States has offered $5 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of a Sweden-based man for conspiring to participate in transnational organized crime.

The U.S. Department of State offered the reward for the capture of Maximilian Rivkin, who marketed an encrypted communications network for drug traffickers — unaware that the technology was developed by the FBI.

Rivkin, a Swedish-based criminal of Serbian origin, was the administrator of the ANOM network, an encrypted communication service used by transnational criminals throughout the world.

In 2018, the FBI infiltrated the platform.

Many criminal conversations were uncovered during the investigation, including those of Rivkin. From December 2020 through the spring of 2021, the FBI shared copies of Rivkin’s criminal conversations with the Swedish Police Authority, which implicated Rivkin in participating in conspiracies of murder, drug trafficking, money laundering and kidnapping.

On May 28, 2021, Rivkin was indicted by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of California for international racketeering conspiracy involving drug trafficking and money laundering.

The State Department announced the reward jointly with the Swedish Police Authority, who charged Rivkin with narcotics smuggling and trafficking.

Those who have information regarding Rivkin have been urged to contact U.S. investigators by email at [email protected] or Swedish investigators by email at [email protected]

This joint reward offer reinforces the U.S. efforts to disrupt and deter transnational criminal activity globally and to build a global coalition to address synthetic drug threats, the State Department said.

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