Department of justice (doj) announced a press conference concerning a “major international cryptocurrency action”. on tuesday, federal prosecutors announced criminal charges against bitzlato, a hong kong-based cryptocurrency exchange, and its founder, russian national anatoly legkodymov. legkodymov was arrested last night in miami for allegedly failing to establish anti-money laundering requirements for bitzlato, which processed some $700 million in illicit funds.
Doj’s announcement caused bitcoin and eth to fall 4.6% and 5% respectively in a short period of time. deputy attorney general lisa monaco touted the arrest as “a significant blow to the cryptocrime ecosystem”. prior to the doj’s announcement, many speculated that the agency would announce charges against binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Say that legkodymov failed to establish anti-money laundering requirements for bitzlato, which allowed the exchange to process a substantial amount of illicit funds. if convicted of operating an illegal money transmitting business, legkodymov faces a maximum sentence of 5 years. binance was deeply entangled in the collapse of rival firm ftx and recently admitted to some unorthodox business practices. net outflows from binance hit $60 million in the last hour, but btc and eth have both recovered about half of their losses incurred earlier today.
