“port for criminal profits”
Russian crypto platform founder caught
01/18/2023 9:23 p.m
Bitzlato was a hit among dark web users because the network didn’t require “selfies or passports” for cryptocurrency exchanges. That’s the end of it. Anatoly Legkodymov is arrested in the United States as a result of cooperation between international investigators.
The Russian founder of the cryptocurrency platform Bitzlato has been arrested in the United States on money laundering allegations. Anatoly Legkodymow was arrested in Miami on Wednesday night (local time), according to the US Department of Justice in Washington. The 40-year-old, who lives in China, is said to be the majority owner of the Hong Kong-registered cryptocurrency platform Bitzlato, through which illegal funds are said to have flowed, according to US judiciary.
“Today, the Justice Department dealt a major blow to the cryptocrime ecosystem,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. “Today’s actions send a clear message: Anyone who breaks our laws from China or Europe – or abuses our financial system from a tropical island – can expect an answer to their crimes in a US courtroom.”
According to the US judiciary, Bitzlato advertised that it only required minimal identification from its users and neither “selfies nor passports”. The platform has become a “haven for criminal profits and funds intended for use in criminal activities”.
Legkodymov faces five years in prison
The platform’s most important partner for cryptocurrency transactions is said to have been the “Hydra Market” dark web marketplace, which was shut down by German and US investigators last April and was once the illegal marketplace on the dark web with the highest turnover worldwide. “Hydra users exchanged more than $700 million in cryptocurrency through Bitzlato, directly or through intermediaries,” the US Department of Justice said.
According to the information, Legkodymov is charged with running an “unlicensed company for sending money”. Up to five years in prison in the US. At the same time as the Russian was arrested, the French authorities, in cooperation with the police organization Europol and partners in Spain, Portugal and Cyprus, dissolved Bitzlato’s digital infrastructure, the US ministry said.