Five people have been convicted in Latvia for organised tax evasion that caused €1.13 million in losses to the French and German state budgets. EPPO announced the judgments on 29 September as the latest court outcome in Admiral 2.0, a wider investigation into suspected VAT fraud and money laundering across borders.
Riga City Court approved plea agreements covering the defendants’ admissions of guilt and the proposed sentences. The five were fined a combined €429,000. They also received probation supervision lasting between three and five years, together with bans on commercial activity for periods of up to three years. The announcement does not give a separate financial or sentencing breakdown for each defendant.
Three other people had previously been convicted in Latvia after entering guilty pleas. The latest decisions therefore add to the Latvian court outcomes in the case, but they do not close the wider investigation. EPPO says more than 400 companies are suspected of involvement in the broader scheme. That number describes the scope of its suspicions, not the number of companies convicted by the Riga court.
The distinction between the latest judgments and the wider inquiry is important when reading the financial figures. The €1.13 million loss relates to the conduct of the five people covered by the new convictions. The €429,000 figure is the total fine imposed on them. A fine is a criminal penalty, and the announcement does not establish that this amount has been returned to the budgets that suffered the loss.
EPPO describes Admiral 2.0 as connected to its earlier Admiral investigation. Prosecutors say the suspected network used the same methods and, in part, the same organisation and infrastructure. The account points to continuity between the investigations while leaving the responsibility of individual participants to the relevant proceedings. A connection between cases does not make every allegation in one case a finding against every defendant in another.
The suspected mechanism is a VAT carousel. Such schemes exploit the treatment of qualifying business transactions between EU countries and the movement of tax liabilities through a chain of companies. Goods can pass through several traders while tax is collected at one point and left unpaid at another. Companies further along the chain may then seek deductions or refunds linked to transactions in that chain.
For a lawful business, an invoice records a supply and the tax consequences that follow from it. In a fraudulent arrangement, the documentary chain can create an apparent entitlement to a deduction while concealing the failure to pay the corresponding tax. The commercial turnover can therefore look substantial even though the public budget is losing revenue. EPPO says this general type of arrangement is central to Admiral 2.0.
Prosecutors also suspect the wider network was used to launder proceeds from drug trafficking, cybercrime and investment fraud. Those allegations concern the continuing investigation. The September announcement describes the five latest Latvian convictions as tax evasion committed within an organised group. It does not state that these defendants were convicted of drug trafficking or the other underlying offences mentioned in the wider case.
The cross-border element is visible in the location of the court and the budgets affected. Proceedings in Riga addressed conduct that caused losses in France and Germany. EPPO credited Latvia’s tax and customs police with supporting the investigation, including its international work. The case illustrates how commercial activity and the resulting tax loss can extend beyond the country in which particular defendants are prosecuted.
The commercial bans also form a distinct part of the sentences. They restrict the defendants’ future participation in business activity for a specified period, alongside the financial penalties and supervision. They should not be described as permanent prohibitions: EPPO gives a maximum period of three years. Similarly, the supervision periods are not prison terms, and the announcement does not report custodial sentences for these five defendants.
The public information leaves several questions open, including the identity of the companies involved in the wider inquiry, the final total of losses attributable to the full network and the amount ultimately recovered. Those issues cannot be settled by multiplying the figures in the Latvian judgments or applying them to every suspected company. Each financial figure has a separate basis and procedural context.
The judgments establish the outcome of the cases against these five defendants following their guilty pleas. Beyond those proceedings, Admiral 2.0 remains active. Further investigative work will determine whether other suspected conduct can support charges and additional court decisions. Allegations against people and businesses outside the completed proceedings remain allegations, and the latest convictions do not remove their right to an individual assessment of the evidence.
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