LATVIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Dr. iur. Viktorija Jarkina-Toča and Alisa Leškovica, RockBridge Legal
networks, money mules and the crypto-asset market. Such persons facilitate the conversion of criminal pro - ceeds into crypto-assets and their subsequent trans - fer through multiple wallets or platforms. As a result, economic crime proceedings increas - ingly involve disputes concerning the identification of the person controlling a wallet, the evidential value of blockchain analysis, the lawful origin of crypto- assets, their valuation at the time of seizure, and the procedural requirements for freezing and confiscat - ing assets held through foreign crypto-asset service providers. The cross-border nature of crypto-assets remains a particular challenge. Effective seizure and recovery frequently require cooperation with foreign investiga - tive authorities, crypto exchanges and wallet service providers. Accordingly, disputes concerning the freez - ing, seizure, management and eventual confiscation of crypto-assets are expected to become a more reg - ular and technically complex area of Latvian economic crime litigation. 7. Fight against cyber-enabled economic crimes Cybercrime and cyber-enabled fraud have become an increasingly prominent area of economic crime enforcement in Latvia. This trend is reflected not only in the growing number of cyber incidents, but also in the increasing scale, sophistication and complexity of criminal investigations involving digital technologies.
Recent investigations have focused on fraudulent call centres, false investment schemes, the use of remote- access software to gain control over victims’ bank accounts, networks of money mules and the conver - sion of criminal proceeds through illegal crypto-asset exchangers. These offences are increasingly organised and cross- border in nature. Latvian authorities therefore regularly cooperate with foreign law enforcement agencies, Eurojust and crypto-asset service providers to identify perpetrators, obtain electronic evidence, trace finan - cial flows and secure assets held in other jurisdictions. As a result, cyber-enabled economic crime is expected to generate increasingly complex litigation. Key issues are likely to include the attribution of digital conduct to particular individuals, the admissibility and reliability of electronic and blockchain evidence, access to data stored abroad, the seizure of electronic devices and crypto-assets, and the distinction between partici - pants in organised fraud schemes and persons who allowed their accounts to be used as money mules.
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