Guilty plea entered by e-BTC operator for money laundering

The U.S. Department of Justice announced that Russian Alexander Vinnik, who operated the dismantled BTC-e cryptocurrency exchange, has entered a guilty plea over charges relating to his involvement in laundering cybercrime proceeds worldwide between 2011 and 2017, reports The Hacker News.

Aside from receiving more than $4 billion worth of Bitcoin, BTC-e had also processed over $9 billion worth of transactions from more than 1 million users around the world until its shutdown nearly seven years ago, according to the Justice Department.

“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. Vinnik operated BTC-e with the intent to promote these unlawful activities and was responsible for a loss amount of at least $121 million,” said the Justice Department.

Such a development follows money laundering charges filed by the U.S. against fellow BTC-e operator Aliaksandr Klimenka in February.

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