- Prominent figures like Vinnik, Bankman-Fried, and Zhao have confronted DOJ charges for money laundering
- Popular crypto-exchange KuCoin was additionally slapped with related charges
Cryptocurrencies have more and more grow to be related to money laundering actions, with notable figures like Sam Bankman-Fried and Changpeng Zhao going through jail phrases. A brand new participant will be added to that listing now, with Alexander Vinnik, co-founder of BTC-e, a bootleg crypto-exchange, pleading guilty to related charges.
According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ),
“A Russian national pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit money laundering related to his role in operating the cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e from 2011 to 2017.”
According to the identical, Alexander Vinnik, aged 44, performed a big position as one of many operators of BTC-e, acknowledged as one of many largest digital foreign money exchanges globally.
BTC-e below DoJ’s radar
BTC-e operated from round 2011 till its closure by legislation enforcement in July 2017. This interval noticed the trade facilitating transactions exceeding $9 billion, whereas catering to over a million customers worldwide. This included a notable buyer base within the United States as properly.
In its assertion, the DoJ claimed,
“BTC-e was one of the primary ways by which cyber criminals around the world transferred, laundered, and stored the criminal proceeds of their illegal activities.”
BTC-e’s operations relied closely on shell firms and affiliate entities that lacked correct registration with FinCEN. It additionally uncared for primary anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) insurance policies.
Alexander Vinnik executed the setup of quite a few such shell firms and monetary accounts worldwide to facilitate BTC-e’s transactions.
Now, a federal district courtroom decide will decide the sentence for Vinnik, contemplating numerous components together with U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
Here, it’s value noting that again in 2017, FinCEN imposed vital civil money penalties totaling round $122 million in opposition to BTC-e and Vinnik for wilfully violating U.S. AML legal guidelines.
KuCoin too?
In a latest improvement, the DoJ additionally charged KuCoin, a significant cryptocurrency trade, alongside its founders Chun Gan and Ke Tang. The charges introduced in opposition to them embody conspiring to violate the Bank Secrecy Act and conspiring to function an unlicensed money-transmitting enterprise.
The DoJ claimed,
“Since its founding in 2017, KuCoin has received over $5 billion and sent over $4 billion, of suspicious and criminal proceeds.”
Taken collectively, these developments spotlight the continued challenges confronted by authorities in combating monetary crimes inside the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
What do the figures say?
A latest report by Chainanalysis, nonetheless, paints a extra optimistic image of the crypto-space. According to the blockchain knowledge platform, there was a pointy decline in money laundering actions in 2023, particularly compared to 2022.
Source: Chainalysis
