Fed additionally accused of conspiring to launder almost 647,000 bitcoins

The U.S. Division of Justice has indicted two Russians for hacking Mt. Gox, one of many largest and hottest cryptocurrency exchanges, and inflicting its subsequent collapse.

In an undisclosed indictment, the Justice Division accused Alexei Bilyuchenko, 43, and Alexander Bryuchenko of conspiring to hack an alternate and launder roughly 647,000 bitcoins, at the moment price about $17.2 billion. Verner, 29, was nominated.

Bilyuchenko was additionally charged with working the “unlawful alternate” BTC-e in collusion with Alexander Vinnik from 2011 to 2017. BTC-e was shut down by US legislation enforcement in 2017, and Vinnik was extradited from Greece to the US in 2022. Suspicion of executing BTC-e and conducting cash laundering.

Mt.Gox closed in 2014 after it filed for chapter and was ordered to liquidate after a theft scandal got here to gentle.

In an announcement, Assistant Legal professional Normal Kenneth A. Well mannered Jr. of the Justice Division’s Prison Division stated in an announcement that Bilyuchenko and Varner “stole giant quantities of cryptocurrency from Mt. Gox, resulting in the alternate’s eventual chapter.” rice discipline.

Bilyuchenko’s “unlawful earnings from Mt.

“For years, Bilyuchenko and his co-conspirators have been engaged on digital foreign money exchanges that allow criminals all over the world, together with pc hackers, ransomware attackers, drug cartels, and corrupt officers to launder billions of {dollars}. ,” stated U.S. Legal professional Ismail J. Kennedy. Ramsey of Northern California stated in an announcement:

CoinDesk reported in March that BTC-e funds have been transferring on the blockchain. The cryptocurrency pockets obtained about 3,299 bitcoins from BTC-e’s pockets in November 2022, the primary alternate pockets transaction since 2017. About 10,000 bitcoins have been despatched to 2 unidentified recipients six years in the past.

The Justice Division submitting didn’t disclose whether or not these recipients have been Mr. Bilyuchenko and Mr. Verner.