CBC | Top Stories News
· collected 2026-09-04 · by Ivan Angelovski, Eric Szeto
Visual investigation reveals 'red flags' experts say should prompt review of secretive firm
Maple Digital Financial Solutions describes itself as a "revolutionary banking" company, with an address in a skyscraper in the heart of Vancouver's financial district.
On paper, the company is registered with Canada’s financial intelligence agency, and offers "fast and easy" global currency transfers and "convenient banking" with the click of a button.
asserted
company → reveal → button
In practice, however, it’s a shell company.
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it → ’ → practice
Its website offers no option to open an account and provides no employee names, while phone calls go straight to voicemail and emails go unanswered.
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emails → offer → voicemail
A CBC News visual investigation, in collaboration with the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), reveals this shell company is closely linked to the TGR network, accused by international law enforcement of laundering billions of dollars for ransomware gangs, drug cartels and wealthy Russians.
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company → reveal → gangs
"Red lights are flashing, there are a number of red flags here," said Denis Meunier, former deputy director at the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), who reviewed the findings.
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who → flash → findings
A report by CIR, a U.K.-based research organization, used digital clues to connect Maple Digital Financial Solutions with a series of companies called The OneGate and the TGR network.
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report → use → companies
CBC shared its findings with multiple legal and financial experts, and each had a similar takeaway: Maple Digital Financial Solutions, also known as Maple Finance, is at "high risk" for suspicious activity.
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Solutions → share → activity
Unlike traditional banks, money services businesses (MSB) such as Maple Finance already pose a threat of laundering illicit funds due to a lack of transparency and the fact that they don’t require an operating licence in many provinces.
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they → pose → provinces
This, coupled with ties to a sanctioned network and individuals known for money laundering, should put authorities in Canada on alert, said Meunier.
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Meunier → couple → alert
TGR network: transnational money-laundering
The CIR report and the experts CBC News spoke to acknowledge there's no definitive proof of money laundering.
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News → speak → laundering
But there are substantial digital clues that connect Maple to TGR — primarily Andrejs Carenoks, a Latvian sanctioned by the U.S. in 2024 for his role in a sophisticated money-laundering operation allegedly led by Yury Maksakov, a Ukrainian national born in Russia.
uncertain
that → be → Russia
Carenoks, according to corporate records, was a director at Maple Finance in 2021.
uncertain
Carenoks → accord → 2021
He is also director of The OneGate and a registered director of TGR Wealth Solutions in the U.K., which was sanctioned in 2024.
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which → register → 2024
Zvigulis has not been sanctioned.
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Zvigulis → sanction → ?
Authorities in the U.S. and U.K. described TGR as a full-service shadow financial hub, offering unregistered crypto exchanges, prepaid credit cards and sanctions evasion services, helping cybercriminals and drug traffickers.
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Authorities → describe → cybercriminals
For example, if a Russian cybercrime group held $1 million US in cryptocurrency paid by the victim of a ransomware attack and a drug gang in the U.K. had a similar amount in cash that needed to be laundered, TGR would arrange for the U.K. drug gang to be paid in crypto in exchange for their cash.
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gang → hold → cash
The cash would then be laundered through a network of international business accounts.
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cash → launder → accounts
Investigators at the U.K.’s National Crime Agency (NCA) have seen similar exchanges where cash handovers were followed almost immediately by the movement of a similar denomination of crypto.
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handovers → see → crypto
Both Carenoks and Maksakov are accused of playing major roles in the TGR network, according to authorities in the U.K. and U.S.
"TGR is massive.
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TGR → accuse → U.K.
It's really, really huge," said Elise Thomas, senior open-source investigator at CIR and author of the OneGate report.
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Thomas → say → report
"To have Carenoks’s name on the actual company documents [for Maple Digital Financial Solutions], I think it's some really strong connections to TGR."
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it → have → TGR
CBC tried reaching out to Maple Finance and The OneGate through email and phone but did not receive a response.
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CBC → try → response
The registered Vancouver address on the Maple Finance website led to Canadian business law firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP.
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address → lead → Osler
In a call, Osler lawyer and partner Matthew Burgoyne said, "the Law Society code of conduct doesn't let us disclose who our clients are and who they're not.
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they → say → conduct
So, unfortunately, I wouldn't even be able to tell you if we acted for them or not."
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we → tell → them
CBC followed up via email requesting that the lawyer ask Maple Finance for comment on this story.
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lawyer → follow → story
The firm wrote in an email, "we cannot help with your story."
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we → write → story
"I think it sort of underscores that this is not a normal business.
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this → think → ?
Because normally, when you call the business, they answer," said Thomas.
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Thomas → call → business
"And when you try to contact them through the channels that they've given to be contacted by customers, they would respond."
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they → try → customers
CBC News reached out to Carenoks, Zvigulis and Maksakov but did not receive a response.
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News → reach → response
Attempts were also made to reach former directors of Maple Digital Financial Solutions.
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Attempts → make → Solutions
One of those former directors, Elen Kazarian, is based in Ontario.
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One → base → Ontario
In an email, she told CBC News she was appointed as a "silent director" because the “owner and CEO of this company are foreigners I was told by my cousin — who knew these owners to help them to register this Corporation."
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them → tell → Corporation
She said she didn’t do anything during her tenure as a director and wasn't paid.
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she → say → director
Maple Digital Financial Solutions is part of a group of companies connected to The OneGate.
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Solutions → connect → OneGate
The financial network offers products such as virtual and physical payment cards, and services such as cryptocurrency trading through shell companies spread across at least seven jurisdictions, from the U.S. to Switzerland to Hong Kong.
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network → offer → Kong
"OneGate seems to be presenting [itself as a] payments service company that provides a number of different financial products and services," Thomas said.
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Thomas → seem → products
"Under the hood, there are all these deep historical connections to TGR, which obviously is accused of being a transnational money-laundering ring."
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which → be → TGR
The TGR network was disrupted in 2024 after a three-year international probe led by the NCA codenamed Operation Destabilise.
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network → disrupt → NCA
…and 21 more, not listed.
