On January 18, the U.S. Department of Justice detained Anatoly Legkodimov, a 40-year-old Russian citizen, in Miami. He is currently due to be taken to the Florida District Court, where he will be charged.
The U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has identified Bitzlato, a Chinese cryptocurrency exchange mostly owned by Mr. Legkodymov, as a major money laundering organization associated with illegal financing of Russia. If Mr. Legkodymov is found guilty on these charges, he could be sentenced to up to five years in prison.According to a press release from the U.S. Justice Department, Bitzlato facilitated the transfer of more than $700 million to criminals and received more than $15 million from extortion activities alone. Besides, the company's largest client was Hydra, a well-known Russian darknet market.
The U.S. Department of Justice claims that Bitzlato did not demand valid identification - such as photos or passports - from its customers. When requested to show any documents, Bitzlato allowed the use of "fake" data. This resulted in money in the firm's accounts intended for illegal activities, the agency said in a press release.
The U.S. Department of Justice report also noted that assistants of Anatoly Legkodimov constantly warned him that crypto exchange customers were abusing drugs. One of the administrators of Bitzlato said that the fight against drug smuggling was only nominal, so as not to miss out on profits, and Anatoly Legkodymov called the exchange users "known fraudsters," according to the report.
In April 2022, U.S. and German law enforcement agencies seized Hydra servers and confiscated $25 million in darknet bitcoins. In addition, the U.S. froze all assets belonging to Hydra-affiliated individuals. The platform, which was used to illegally sell drugs, fake documents and stolen information, was found to have about 17 million users and 19,000 sellers.
In August of the same year, Denis Dubnikov - founder of the cryptocurrency exchange EggChange - was extradited from the Netherlands to the United States, where he was charged with laundering $400,000 from cyberattacks in 2019.
