• The US Department of Justice has charged two Russians with conspiring to launder 647,000 Bitcoin (BTC) stolen from their hack of Mt. Gox in 2011.
• Alexey Bilyuchenko and Aleksandr Verner were accused of using their unauthorized access to Mt. Gox servers to transfer BTC to wallets controlled by them and their co-conspirators between 2011 and 2014.
• Additionally, they are also being charged for conspiring to operate the BTC-E crypto exchange which facilitated ways for criminals to store and launder criminal proceeds.
The US DOJ Charges Two Russians
The U.S. Department of Justice has charged two Russian nationals, Alexey Bilyuchenko and Aleksandr Verner, with conspiracy to launder 647,000 Bitcoin (BTC) stolen from their hack of Mt. Gox in 2011, according to a June 9 statement.
Unauthorized Access To Mt. Gox Servers
The DOJ accused them of using their unauthorized access to Mt. Gox servers to transfer BTC to wallets controlled by them and their co-conspirators between 2011 and 2014.
Conspiring To Operate BTC-E Crypto Exchange
Additionally, the DOJ is charging Bilyuchenko and Alexander Vinnik for conspiring to operate BTC-E – a crypto exchange shut down in 2017 by the authorities because it facilitated ways for criminals to transfer, launder, and store criminal proceeds.
Statement By Assistant Attorney General Of DOJ’s Criminal Division
Kenneth A Polite Jr., the assistant attorney general of DOJ’s criminal division said that the accused had used their criminal proceeds from the Mt Gox hack “to begin the notorious BTC-e virtual currency exchange, which laundered funds for cybercriminals world wide”
Conclusion
In conclusion, these two Russian nationals have been charged with laundering over 600k Bitcoin stolen from the hack of Mt Gox in 2011 as well as operating an illegal crypto exchange called BTC-E which enabled other criminals around the world launder money through it as well.