Man Allegedly Behind $4 Billion Bitcoin Laundering Scheme, Charged

The Russian man who orchestrated a major money laundering operation involving Bitcoin has been arrested by the United States and Greek authorities.

Earlier, a U.S. court indicated that the mastermind, Alexander Vinnik, was the owner and operator of a digital currency platform used to launder over $4 billion for people involved in various criminal activities including computer hacking and drug trafficking.

BTC-e Bitcoin Laundering Scheme

The BTC-e operator was arrested in Greece, where he was staying in a small beach village hotel, following an investigation led by the U.S. Department of Justice in collaboration with several other task forces and federal agencies.

According to the indictment, Bitcoins stolen from other platforms were funneled through BTC-e to hide their source.

The statement further continued to say that BTC-e received Bitcoins from the Mt. Gox exchange before it was confiscated in 2014.

The authorities believe that Vinnik used his site to initiate business transactions in the U.S. without following the appropriate regulations.

The platform was mostly used to help launder money for users involved in criminal activities.

After first launching in 2011, BTC-e grew to become one of the largest Bitcoin trading platforms worldwide.

However, BTC-e had been implicated in multiple criminal incidences.

In fact, U.S. authorities believe most of its money came from fraud, identity theft, computer hacking, tax refund fraud, drug trafficking and public corruption, among others.