Spain busts record money laundering ring

MADRID, March 14 (UPI) -- Spanish police have broken Europe's largest-ever money laundering ring with the arrest of seven lawyers and three notaries, The Times of London said Monday.

More than 300 investigators worked on the case for 10 months, which resulted in the arrests and seizure of $335 million worth of assets. They included 251 properties, among them two entire housing developments, 42 luxury cars including Porsches and Rolls-Royces, two aircraft, a yacht, works of art and jewelry.

The investigation centered in Marbella on the Costa del Sol. Juan Carlos Lopez Caballero, the chief anti-mafia prosecutor in the region warned, "The worst is yet to be unveiled," while the Interior Ministry said there could be further arrests.

Police said the scale of the fraud is such they will need as long as a year to unravel the network of more than 1,000 companies registered in Canada, the United States and across Europe through which money has been filtered and invested illegally in Spain's property market.

The investigation also identified people who siphoned funds from the Russian oil firm Yukos without the company's knowledge as part of a bigger money-laundering ring.