A Russian operator of a now-dismantled BTC-e cryptocurrency change has pleaded responsible to cash laundering prices from 2011 to 2017.
Alexander Vinnik, 44, was charged in January 2017 and brought into custody in Greece in July 2017. He was subsequently extradited to the U.S. in August 2022. Vinnik and his co-conspirators have been accused of proudly owning and managing BTC-e, which allowed its legal prospects to commerce in Bitcoin with excessive ranges of anonymity.
BTC-e is alleged to have facilitated transactions for cybercriminals worldwide, receiving illicit proceeds from quite a few laptop intrusions and hacking incidents, ransomware scams, identification theft schemes, corrupt public officers, and narcotics distribution rings.
The crypto change obtained greater than $4 billion price of bitcoin over the course of its operation, in accordance with the U.S. Division of Justice (DoJ). It additionally processed over $9 billion-worth of transactions and served over a million customers worldwide, a number of of them within the U.S.
As well as, the entity was not registered as a cash providers enterprise with the U.S. Division of Treasury regardless of doing substantial enterprise within the U.S. and didn’t implement any anti-money laundering (AML) or Know Your Buyer (KYC) tips as required by federal legislation, making it a beautiful alternative for criminals trying to obscure their ill-gotten funds.
Vinnik was beforehand charged with one rely of operation of an unlicensed cash service enterprise, one rely of conspiracy to commit cash laundering, 17 counts of cash laundering, and two counts of participating in illegal financial transactions.
“BTC-e was one of the primary ways by which cyber criminals around the world transferred, laundered, and stored the criminal proceeds of their illegal activities,” the DoJ stated. “Vinnik operated BTC-e with the intent to promote these unlawful activities and was responsible for a loss amount of at least $121 million.”
Earlier this February, the U.S. authorities charged one other BTC-e operator, a Belarusian and Cypriot nationwide named Aliaksandr Klimenka for cash laundering and working an unlicensed cash providers enterprise.
Shortly following Vinnik’s arrest in 2017, the U.S. Division of the Treasury’s Monetary Crimes Enforcement Community (FinCEN) introduced [PDF] it assessed a $110 million civil cash penalty in opposition to BTC-e for violating AML legal guidelines and a further $12 million penalty in opposition to Vinnik.
