In 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox and the operation of the illegal cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e.
Alexey Bilyuchenko, 43, and Aleksandr Verner, 29, both Russian nationals, were born in Mt. He is accused of complicity in laundering approximately 647,000 Bitcoins by hacking Gox.
Bilyuchenko is also accused of plotting with Alexander Vinnik to operate BTC-e from 2011 to 2017.
Mt. The current value of BTCs stolen through Gox is approximately $17 billion.
Mt. Gox was once the dominant exchange for Bitcoin trading, but the hack led to its shutdown in 2014, sparking a global chase for lost crypto.
The defendants are also accused of arranging a fraudulent contract with a New York-based BTC brokerage service to supposedly provide advertising services. According to prosecutors, this deal was actually used to launder BTC.
Vinnik was arrested in 2017 and Mt. He was accused of operating BTC-e illegally in a 21-point indictment, which included alleged laundering of funds from Gox's hack. He claimed he was innocent. He was extradited from Greece to the United States in August.
On February 7, 2014, Mt. Gox had stopped withdrawals, citing a technical malfunction. It was soon discovered that hundreds of thousands of BTC were lost, and Mt. Gox has filed for bankruptcy protection.
*Not investment advice.