The alleged operator of the illicit cryptocurrency alternate BTC-e was extradited yesterday from Greece to the US to face costs within the Northern District of California.

“After greater than 5 years of litigation, Russian nationwide Alexander Vinnik was extradited to the US yesterday to be held accountable for working BTC-e, a prison cryptocurrency alternate, which laundered greater than $four billion of prison proceeds,” mentioned Assistant Lawyer Basic Kenneth A. Well mannered, Jr. of the Justice Division’s Prison Division. “This extradition demonstrates the Division’s dedication to investigating and dismantling illicit cyber exercise and wouldn’t have been attainable with out the relentless work of the Justice Division’s Workplace of Worldwide Affairs. The Justice Division thanks the Authorities of Greece, significantly the Ministry of Justice, for all their efforts in securing the defendant’s switch to the US.”

Alexander Vinnik, 42, a Russian citizen, was charged in a 21-count superseding indictment in January 2017. Vinnik was taken into custody in Greece in July 2017 on the request of the US. He made his preliminary look earlier in the present day in federal courtroom in San Francisco earlier than U.S. Justice of the Peace Decide Sallie Kim.

In keeping with the indictment, Vinnik and his co-conspirators allegedly owned, operated, and administrated BTC-e, a big cybercrime and on-line cash laundering entity that allowed its customers to commerce in bitcoin with excessive ranges of anonymity and developed a buyer base closely reliant on prison exercise. 

The indictment alleges BTC-e facilitated transactions for cybercriminals worldwide and obtained prison proceeds from quite a few pc intrusions and hacking incidents, ransomware scams, identification theft schemes, corrupt public officers, and narcotics distribution rings, and was used to facilitate crimes starting from pc hacking, to fraud, identification theft, tax refund fraud schemes, public corruption, and drug trafficking. The investigation has revealed that BTC-e obtained greater than $four billion value of bitcoin over the course of its operation.

Regardless of doing substantial enterprise in the US, the indictment alleges that BTC-e was not registered as a cash companies enterprise with the U.S. Division of Treasury, had no anti-money laundering course of, no system for acceptable “know your buyer” or “KYC” verification, and no anti-money laundering program as required by federal regulation. 

In 2017, FinCEN assessed a civil cash penalty in opposition to BTC-e for willfully violating U.S. anti-money laundering (AML) legal guidelines and in opposition to Vinnik for his function within the violations. A civil matter to implement civil financial penalties, within the quantity of $88,596,314 as to BTC-e and $12 million as to Vinnik, is pending within the Northern District of California.

The indictment costs BTC-e and Vinnik with one depend of operation of an unlicensed cash service enterprise, and one depend of conspiracy to commit cash laundering. As well as, the indictment costs Vinnik with 17 counts of cash laundering and two counts of partaking in illegal financial transactions.

The FBI, IRS Prison Investigation (Oakland Subject Workplace and Cyber Crime Unit, Washington, D.C.), Homeland Safety Investigations, and U.S. Secret Service Prison Investigative Division are investigating the case.

Trial Lawyer C. Alden Pelker of the Justice Division’s Laptop Crime and Mental Property Part, and Assistant U.S. Lawyer Claudia Quiroz of the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Northern District of California are prosecuting the case.

The Justice Division’s Nationwide Cryptocurrency Enforcement Staff offered substantial help. The extradition request was dealt with by the Justice Division’s Workplace of Worldwide Affairs.

The Justice Division thanks the Greek Ministry of Justice for its cooperation in securing the defendant’s switch to the US.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed harmless till confirmed responsible past an affordable doubt in a courtroom of regulation.