The 36-year-old founding father of the Bitcoin Fog cryptocurrency mixer has been sentenced to 12 years and 6 months in jail for facilitating cash laundering actions between 2011 and 2021.
Roman Sterlingov, a twin Russian-Swedish nationwide, pleaded responsible to fees of cash laundering and working an unlicensed money-transmitting enterprise earlier this March.
The U.S. Division of Justice (DoJ) described Bitcoin Fog because the darknet’s longest-running cryptocurrency mixer, permitting cybercriminals to hide the supply of their cryptocurrency proceeds.
“Over the course of its decade-long operation, Bitcoin Fog gained notoriety as a go-to money laundering service for criminals seeking to hide their illicit proceeds from law enforcement and processed transactions involving over 1.2 million bitcoin, valued at approximately $400 million at the time the transactions occurred,” the DoJ mentioned.
“The bulk of this cryptocurrency came from darknet marketplaces and was tied to illegal narcotics, computer crimes, identity theft, and child sexual abuse material.”
Along with the jail time period, Sterlingov has been sentenced to forfeit $395.56 million, in addition to seized cryptocurrencies and financial property valued at roughly $1.76 million. He has additionally been ordered to forfeit his curiosity within the Bitcoin Fog pockets, which at the moment holds 1,345 bitcoin ($103 million).
“Roman Sterlingov laundered over $400 million in criminal proceeds through Bitcoin Fog, his cryptocurrency ‘mixing’ service that was open for business to criminals looking to hide dirty money,” mentioned Principal Deputy Assistant Lawyer Normal Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the DoJ’s Felony Division.
“Through his illicit money laundering operation, Sterlingov helped criminals launder proceeds of drug trafficking, computer crime, identity theft, and the sexual exploitation of children.”
The event comes a day after the DoJ additionally sentenced a Nigerian nationwide, a 33-year-old Babatunde Francis Ayeni, to 10 years in federal jail for his position in a large cyber fraud conspiracy that claimed over 400 victims within the U.S., resulting in a cumulative lack of practically $20 million.
Ayeni and different conspirators had been “involved in a sophisticated business email compromise scheme targeting real estate transactions in the United States,” it mentioned.
“Over 400 people across the United States were victims of the conspiracy. Of these, 231 victims were unable to reverse the wire transactions in time and lost their entire transaction. The collective loss of these 231 victims was $19,599,969.46.”
Final week, the DoJ additionally sentenced Kolade Akinwale Ojelade, a 34-year-old Nigerian man, to greater than 26 years in jail for deceiving potential owners and others out of down funds utilizing an adversary-in-the-middle (AitM) e-mail phishing and spoofing assault that precipitated cash transfers to be routed to financial institution accounts beneath his management. The fraudulent operation is estimated to have resulted in losses totaling roughly $12 million.
“Mr. Ojelade sent phishing emails to real estate businesses, gained unauthorized access to many of their accounts, and monitored their email traffic to determine when large transactions were about to take place,” the DoJ mentioned.
“He then intercepted wire payment instructions, changed the information, and resent the emails via spoofed email addresses that mimicked the original senders’ addresses.”
The sentencing additionally follows the arrest of 130 suspects comprising 113 international nationals, primarily of Chinese language and Malaysian origin, and 17 Nigerian collaborators by the Nigeria Police Drive for his or her “alleged involvement in high-level cybercrimes, hacking, and activities that threaten national security.”
