Former model Lauren Bryant (instagram pic)
In the latest round of investigations into the former partner of suspected drug kingpin Vadim Volkov, the 27-year-old Australian life coach has told Australia’s anti-corruption bureau that she had no knowledge of the thousands of dollars of allegedly illicit funds that were deposited into her bank account.
Former model Lauren Bryant told Australia’s Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) that she did not know how the AUD1.1 million in alleged drug proceeds were transferred through her bank account before being sent to Hong Kong and Switzerland.
She admits that Volkov regularly gave her “inch-thick” wads of cash to deposit into accounts that she opened during their four-year relationship, but denied knowing the source of the funds.
Investigators believe it has some connection to Volkov, a Russian, who is currently fighting the Australian government’s bid to seize his multi-million dollar fortune after being charged with trafficking narcotics, including cocaine, ecstasy and steroids.
Bryant told the CCC that she had started two businesses with Volkov. The first involved sending models to Hong Kong to work “as hostesses or whatever you want to call them” and another selling “herbal weight loss pills.”
According to Australian tabloid The Courier Mail, the former lovers spent lavish holidays in Macau, Hong Kong and Thailand.
When police raided Volkov’s home in August last year, they found AUD1 million in cash, as well as at least seven weapons – including two semi-automatic rifles – and ammunition.
But the suspect argued that their three Queensland homes, AUD1.5 million in cash and bank accounts were legally acquired via a combination of various methods: gambling, an inheritance from a convicted drug dealer acquaintance, and AUD350,000 in cash that another friend had smuggled into the country, according to The Courier Mail. DB
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