Authorities said the two Russians, Alexey Bilyuchenko and Aleksandr Verner, were charged with conspiring to launder about 647,000 bitcoin from the Mt. Gox hack.
Bilyuchenko is also charged with conspiring with another alleged co-conspirator in operating BTC-e, an illicit cryptocurrency exchange that was shut down by U.S. law enforcement in 2017.
“For years, Bilyuchenko and his co-conspirators allegedly operated a digital currency exchange that enabled criminals around the world — including computer hackers, ransomware actors, narcotics rings, and corrupt public officials — to launder billions of dollars,” said U.S. Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey for the Northern District of California.
In one of the indictments brought by the Southern District of New York, the defendants allegedly gained unauthorized access to a server holding crypto wallets of Mt. Gox, so they could illegally transfer digital assets to bitcoin addresses they controlled.
Mt. Gox ultimately shut down its operations in 2014 after the heist was uncovered.
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
