All about Bitzlato, the cryptocurrency platform that laundered money for the dark web
The United States has arrested Anatoly Legkodymov, a Russian citizen living in China who founded the cryptocurrency platform Bitzlato. He is accused of money laundering and contacts with Russian cybercrime. All the details
On Wednesday, US authorities reported the arrest of Anatoly Legkodymov, co-founder and majority shareholder of cryptocurrency exchange platform Bitzlato, accused of carrying out transactions with illicit funds worth $700 million.
BITZLATO'S LINKS WITH HYDRA MARKET
Anatoly Legkodymov, a forty-year-old Russian citizen residing in China, from where he managed his platform, was arrested on Tuesday 17 in Miami, Florida.
He is accused of using Hong Kong-registered Bitzlato to trade more than $700 million in cryptocurrencies with Hydra Market, a Russian-language marketplace on the dark web where it was possible to buy drugs, leaked financial data, fake IDs and money laundering services. US and German authorities shut it down in April 2022, confiscating its servers and assets.
MONEY LAUNDERING ACCUSATIONS
The American prosecutors who dealt with Legkodymov's arrest also say that Bitzlato received more than 15 million dollars in proceeds from ransomware operations: this is the name of those hacker attacks that force the victim to pay a ransom in exchange the return of blocked or stolen data.
Since May 2018, Bitzlato has handled nearly $4.6 billion in cryptocurrency transactions; a significant part of this sum, according to US authorities, is the proceeds of criminal activities. Anti-money laundering controls by Bitzlato were poor, so that it was possible for users to register on the platform using only an email.
CONTACTS WITH RUSSIAN CYBERCRIMINALITY
The United States alleges that Bitzlato was used to conduct transactions with US-based exchange markets, using an American online infrastructure that Legkodymov managed for some time while in the country.
According to Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, Bitzlato has repeatedly facilitated transactions for Russian cybercriminal organizations such as Conti, linked to the Moscow government.
EXCLUDING BITZLATO FROM WORLD FINANCE
Washington's goal is not only to block Bitzlato's activities in the United States, but also to "exclude it from the global financial sector almost immediately".
– Read also: Cryptocurrencies, because even Core Scientific ends up in bankruptcy
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/bitzlato-riciclaggio-denaro-arresto-legkodymov/ on Thu, 19 Jan 2023 11:05:48 +0000.