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As some coins were deposited back to MtGox, we could identify which accounts were used to receive them; two in particular were of interest, and were possible to link to the online identity "WME". (Clusters who directly used these MtGox accounts are highlighted in red.) WME has been active since a long time back, often advertising "cheap coins" on the BitcoinTalk forums and wanting to trade exchange money codes. BTC-e publicly vouched for him, saying that "[we] know WME very well".
WME was involved with an incident involving stolen Bitcoinica funds (visible in the graph above), which provided yet another strong indicator that we had identified the right man, seemingly the main money launderer behind the MtGox heist. This incident also ended up revealing the name "Alexander Vinnik", though we didn't at the time think it was his real name, having seen many aliases. Today's arrest suggests it was real after all
To be clear, this investigation turned up evidence to identify Vinnik not as a hacker/thief but as a money launderer; his arrest news also suggests this is what he is being suspected for. He may have merely bought cheap coins from thieves and offered a laundering service. He is, however, a crucial piece of the puzzle, as he will have likely known who he was dealing with and laundering for, and so represents a major breakthrough in the case. We assume that law enforcement will now be taking the appropriate next steps to pursue all the remaining angles and hopefully identify the other individuals involved as well.
WME was involved with an incident involving stolen Bitcoinica funds (visible in the graph above), which provided yet another strong indicator that we had identified the right man, seemingly the main money launderer behind the MtGox heist. This incident also ended up revealing the name "Alexander Vinnik", though we didn't at the time think it was his real name, having seen many aliases. Today's arrest suggests it was real after all
To be clear, this investigation turned up evidence to identify Vinnik not as a hacker/thief but as a money launderer; his arrest news also suggests this is what he is being suspected for. He may have merely bought cheap coins from thieves and offered a laundering service. He is, however, a crucial piece of the puzzle, as he will have likely known who he was dealing with and laundering for, and so represents a major breakthrough in the case. We assume that law enforcement will now be taking the appropriate next steps to pursue all the remaining angles and hopefully identify the other individuals involved as well.
L'article contient un SVG, schéma suivant pas-à-pas les mouvements des fonds volés.
Très instructif.
