Crypto News– According to a Bloomberg report, Alexander Vinnik, a Russian national who ran the crypto exchange BTC-e, pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering conspiracy in the U.S. on May 3.
BTC-e, a major crypto exchange from 2011 to 2017, processed transactions totaling $9 billion and boasted a customer base exceeding 1 million worldwide, according to prosecutors. They allege that the exchange was utilized by cybercriminals to transfer, launder, and store proceeds from illicit activities, including hacking, ransomware, and drug distribution.
BTC e Operator Admits to Money Laundering Charges in U.S.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in San Francisco stated that Vinnik managed BTC-e until his arrest and the subsequent shutdown of the exchange by law enforcement. Vinnik, who was sentenced to five years in prison for money laundering in France in 2020, now faces a potential maximum sentence of 20 years in the U.S.
Prosecutors allege that BTC-e operated without a vetting system, enabling criminals to convert illicit cash into cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin anonymously. They claim that the exchange handled Bitcoin linked to a Russian military intelligence hacking unit responsible for leaking Democrats‘ emails during the 2016 U.S. elections in an attempt to influence votes.
In recent months, there has been heightened scrutiny and regulatory action against cryptocurrency-related fraud in the U.S. Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder of the now-defunct crypto exchange FTX, received a 24-year prison sentence in March for orchestrating a multi-billion dollar fraud scheme.
Furthermore, in April 2024, Do Kwon, the founder of Terraform Labs, was found liable for fraud in a civil case. Terraform Labs’ collapse in 2022 triggered a series of bankruptcies, wiping out $40 billion from the market.
Most recently, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the founder of Binance, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, was sentenced to four months in prison this week for failing to prevent illicit activities, including criminal and terrorist financing, on the platform. CZ had previously pleaded guilty, and Binance paid the largest fine in history while agreeing to undergo monitoring.
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