The co-founder of crypto exchange BTC-e, Alexander Vinnik, has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering. In a public broadcast Per the US Department of Justice (DOJ) on May 3, the Russian national admitted his role as a BTC-e operator, facilitating $9 billion in illicit transactions between 2011 and 2017 on the crypto trading platform .
Vinnik’s role in BTC-e “criminal” operations – US DOJ
According to the DOJ, before its closure in 2017, BTC-e was one of the main money transfer platforms for cybercriminals around the world. US authorities claimed the crypto exchange handled funds from several types of bad actors, including hackers, scammers, corrupt officials and drug traffickers.
The DOJ said that as a BTC-e operator, Vinnik was an ally of these criminals, resulting in a loss of $121 million. They said that to facilitate questionable transactions, BTC-e did not have any anti-money laundering (AML) protocols and was not registered as a money transfer platform with the network American Financial Crimes Enforcement Agency (FinCEN), although a significant portion of American citizens are present there. its customers.
US prosecutors also pointed out that the crypto exchange worked with several unregistered shell companies without KYC policies or AML measures to move funds for its million customers. In particular, they claim that Vinnik was responsible for creating many of these shell companies that assisted in the operations of the BTC-e exchange.
Commenting on Vinnik’s guilty plea, Assistant Attorney General Lisa Monaco praised the DOJ’s efforts in combating crimes involving the use of digital assets.
Monaco said:
Today’s outcome highlights how the Department of Justice, working with international partners, is expanding across the globe to combat crypto crime. This guilty plea reflects the department’s continued commitment to using all tools to combat money laundering, control crypto markets, and obtain redress for victims.
What next for Vinnik?
Vinnik was first apprehended by Greek authorities in 2017 on money laundering allegations based on a U.S. arrest warrant. In 2020, the co-founder of BTC-e was extradited to France where he was acquitted of crypto-ransomware charges but convicted of money laundering, leading to a five-year prison sentence.
After two years in prison in France, Alexandre Vinnik was finally transferred to the United States. During his stay in North America, Vinnik attempted to undergo prisoner exchange involving the United States and the Russian Federation.
However, following Vinnik’s admission of conspiracy to launder money through the BTC-e exchange, the Russian citizen must now await judgment from a US federal district court judge, in accordance with constitutional guidelines and other legislative principles.
Total crypto market cap valued at $2.267 trillion on the daily chart | Source: TOTAL chart on Tradingview.com
Featured image from Bloomberg, chart from Tradingview
