Bad information for those who’re a cryptocurrency investor who depends upon the Bitzlato trade, as a result of right here’s what you will notice for those who go to its web site at present.
The cause? The firm’s founder, Anatoly Legkodymov, has been charged by the US Department of Justice with processing greater than US $700m value of “dirty money” on behalf of criminals.
Legkodymov, a Russian nationwide dwelling in China, was arrested in Miami as a part of a world operation with regulation enforcement in France and different international locations.
Sign as much as our publication
“Institutions that trade in cryptocurrency are not above the law and their owners are not beyond our reach,” mentioned US Attorney Breon Peace at a press convention asserting Legkodymov’s arrest. “As alleged, Bitzlato sold itself to criminals as a no-questions-asked cryptocurrency exchange, and reaped hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of deposits as a result. The defendant is now paying the price for the malign role that his company played in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.”
Prosecutors declare that Bitzlato didn’t implement required anti-money laundering safeguards and required solely minimal identification data from its customers, making it ideally suited for drug offers and ransomware operators who wished to cowl their tracks.
Authorities say that Bitzlato was intently related to Hydra, a darkish internet prison market extensively utilized by Russian-speaking criminals, that was seized and shut down final yr.
My guess is that Legkodymov is rueing his choice to go to Miami.
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