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$4 Billion Dollar BTC Laundering Ring!

K1

Blue-Eyed Devil...
Jun 25, 2006
5,046
1
38
Greece arrests Russian suspected of running $4 billion bitcoin laundering ring

ATHENS (Reuters) - A Russian man suspected of laundering at least $4 billion of criminal funds by switching them into the digital currency bitcoin has been arrested in Greece, police said on Wednesday.

Police sources identified the individual as Alexander Vinnik, 38. After a tip-off, he was arrested in a small beachside village in northern Greece, on a U.S. warrant, and police said the United States would seek to extradite him.

"Since 2011 the 38-year-old has been running a criminal organization which administers one of the most important websites of electronic crime in the world," police said in a statement, describing an alleged money laundering operation that "legalizes proceeds from illegal activities".

It was thought that 'at least' $4 billion in cash had been laundered through a bitcoin platform since 2011; the platform had 7 million bitcoins deposited, and 5.5 million bitcoins in withdrawals.

Bitcoin was the first digital currency to successfully use cryptography to keep transactions secure and hidden, making traditional financial regulation difficult if not impossible.

The detainee was held on four counts of running an unlicensed money-transfer operation, conspiracy, money laundering in violation of 17 acts in the U.S. criminal code, and transactions in cash acquired through illicit means.

The Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow said it had no information on the case.

In a separate prominent cybercrime case, the United States is seeking to extradite another Russian, Peter Levashov, from Spain. U.S. prosecutors have charged him with hacking offences, saying he operated a network of tens of thousands of infected computers used by cyber criminals.

Reporting by Karolina Tagaris and Michele Kambas in Athens and Jack Stubbs in Moscow; Editing by Mark Trevelyan
 

TeknoViking

Donating Member
Feb 1, 2013
135
0
0
Maybe thats why the crypto market took a dip the last few days. That is a whole hell of a lot of money. Damn.
 

K1

Blue-Eyed Devil...
Jun 25, 2006
5,046
1
38
Maybe thats why the crypto market took a dip the last few days. That is a whole hell of a lot of money. Damn.

I was thinking that also, as I was watching/waiting for ETH to hit $160:rolleyes::p

Every time one of these guys get busted or one of the darknet sites goes down digital currency takes a big hit...Been rebounding pretty good afterwards but still...