Topic: 2017-07-27 Guardian - "Criminal mastermind" of $4bn laundering scheme arrested (Read 345 times)

It will be yet another fight between Russia and usa, as if it were not enough that sanctions the US imposed on Russia, now usa ask for the extradition of a Russian citizen to be tried in the USA.

I knew it could take him 2 months to be extradited to USA.

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$4bn bitcoin laundering scheme, Lots of money, only this month big criminals went to jail


'BTC-e quickly became the virtual currency exchange of choice for criminals'

The US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is imposing a $110 million (£83 million) penalty on BTC-e, and a $12 million (£9.1 million) fine on Vinnick. In a filing, it said (emphasis ours):

Through their operation of BTC-e, Alexander Vinnik and other individuals occupying senior leadership positions within the virtual currency exchange attracted and maintained a customer base that consisted largely of criminals who desired to conceal proceeds from crimes such as ransomware, fraud, identity theft, tax refund fraud schemes, public corruption, and drug trafficking ... BTC-e quickly became the virtual currency exchange of choice for criminals looking to conduct illicit transactions or launder illicit proceeds, all of which BTC-e failed to report both to FinCEN and law enforcement."

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-indicts-alexander-vinnik-alleged-operator-btc-e-money-laundering-2017-7

I suppose this is the end of btc-e and other exchange should be on alert

The scheme stayed uncovered. How he has got this money? We all know that exchanger's heads take big profit, especially popular sites. And they can't judge him for illegal activity, because of it's not the guy's choice, it's bitcoin's nature, that all transactions are faceless and the identity of people is covered and for what they spend bitcoins as well.
Russia plans to protect it's citizen and I plan to follow this situation to see what is going to be in the end.

"Criminal mastermind" of $4bn bitcoin laundering scheme arrested

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/27/russian-criminal-mastermind-4bn-bitcoin-laundering-scheme-arrested-mt-gox-exchange-alexander-vinnik

Russian operator of long-standing bitcoin exchange BTC-e indicted for laundering money including high-profile hack of funds from Mt Gox exchange

<< The Russian "internationally sought 'mastermind' of a crime organisation" accused of laundering more than $4bn in bitcoin, including funds obtained from the hack of failed bitcoin exchange Mt Gox, has been arrested in Greece. A US jury indicted Alexander Vinnik on Wednesday after his arrest in a small beachside village in northern Greece on Tuesday, following an investigation led by the US justice department along with several other federal agencies and task forces.

Vinnik was described by the justice department as the operator of BTC-e, an exchange used to trade the digital currency bitcoin since 2011, which was allegedly used to launder more than $4bn for people involved in crimes ranging from computer hacking to drug trafficking. US authorities also linked him to the failure of Mt Gox, the Japan-based bitcoin exchange that collapsed in 2014 after being hacked. Vinnik “obtained” funds from the hack of Mt Gox and laundered them through BTC-e and Tradehill, another San Francisco-based exchange he owned, they said in the statement.

"Just as new computer technologies continue to change the way we engage each other and experience the world, so too will criminals subvert these new technologies to serve their own nefarious purposes", said Brian Stretch, US attorney for the Northern District of California. >>