Tag: Anatoly Legkodymov

On July 18, Judge Eric Vitaliano of Brooklyn's federal court sentenced Anatoly Legkodymov, the founder of the Bitzlato cryptocurrency exchange, to 18 months in prison, equivalent to the time he had already served. Legkodymov's sentencing followed his guilty plea to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business that concealed over $700 million in illegal proceeds from activities such as gambling and drug transactions.

In Jan 2023, Europol announced the arrest of senior management of crypto exchange Bitzlato for its alleged roles in money laundering and cybercrime. On Dec 6, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) claimed that the exchange had processed over $700 million in unlawful funds, including substantial amounts related to ransomware attacks. Its Russian owner Anatoly Legkodymov plead guilty and agreed to dissolve the exchange. However, withdrawals were recently halted.

Before Western sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine invasion began in February 2022, U.S. authorities were cracking down on the Russian crypto scene. Since the beginning of the new sanctions in 2022, the American approach against the Russian crypto scene, which is under general suspicion of money laundering and sanctions violations, has intensified and is bringing charges against Russian crypto schemes and their masterminds.

According to Reuters, Binance processed almost $346 million in bitcoin for the Russian crypto exchange Bitzlato. The company's founder Anatoly Legkodymov was arrested by U.S. authorities last week for allegedly running a money laundering scheme. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an order identifying Bitzlato Limited d/b/a Bitzlato (www.bitzlato.com) as a primary money laundering concern in connection with Russian illicit finance

While the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an order that identifies the virtual...