Today’s #GoodGuysPrevail Update…

The U.S. Department of Justice recently extradited the alleged operator of illegal cryptocurrency exchange #BTCe. This extradition is the culmination of over 5 years of litigation, and the 2017 indictment states that the BTC-e exchange ostensibly laundered over $4 billion (USD) in criminal proceeds.

Like other exchanges that have been sanctioned and/or shut down in recent years, BTC-e enabled users to anonymously trade bitcoin, allowing them to cash out proceeds from various #ransomware, #identitytheft, #drugtrafficking, and #taxrefund schemes. Defendant Alexander Vinnik, a Russian national, made his first appearance in federal court last week in San Francisco.

In addition to facing criminal charges, Vinnik also faces Dept of the Treasury/Financial Crimes Enforcement Network civil money penalties for: failing to have an #AML process or program; failing to register as a money services business with the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and failing to have a system for appropriate #KYC verification. The 2017 #FinCEN civil money penalty assessment was for $88.6M USD for BTC-e and $12M USD for Vinnik personally.

This extradition marks another milestone for the DoJ’s ongoing efforts to collaborate with international #lawenforcement and to disrupt organized #cybercrime. #Kudos to both American and Greek law enforcement for a remarkable coup in bringing this saga to its final chapter. Plaudits also belong to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the IRS Criminal Investigation division, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Secret Service for their roles.

#AisA #ruleoflaw #justice #digitalforensics #forensicinvestigation #cryptocrime #digitalassets #fraudinvestigations #cryptoassets #digitalassettracing #digitalassetrecovery #forensicaccounting #karma #cryptocurrency