Dangerous information if you happen to’re a cryptocurrency investor who depends upon the Bitzlato change, as a result of right here’s what you will notice if you happen to go to its web site in the present day.
The rationale? The corporate’s founder, Anatoly Legkodymov, has been charged by the US Division of Justice with processing greater than US $700m price of “soiled cash” on behalf of criminals.
Legkodymov, a Russian nationwide dwelling in China, was arrested in Miami as a part of a global operation with legislation enforcement in France and different international locations.
Signal as much as our publication“Establishments that commerce in cryptocurrency will not be above the legislation and their house owners will not be past our attain,” mentioned US Lawyer Breon Peace at a press convention saying Legkodymov’s arrest. “As alleged, Bitzlato bought itself to criminals as a no-questions-asked cryptocurrency change, and reaped tons of of tens of millions of {dollars}’ price of deposits because of this. The defendant is now paying the value for the malign position that his firm performed within the cryptocurrency ecosystem.”
Prosecutors declare that Bitzlato didn’t implement required anti-money laundering safeguards and required solely minimal identification info from its customers, making it superb for drug offers and ransomware operators who wished to cowl their tracks.
Authorities say that Bitzlato was carefully related to Hydra, a darkish net legal market extensively utilized by Russian-speaking criminals, that was seized and shut down final 12 months.
My guess is that Legkodymov is rueing his determination to go to Miami.
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