Crypto-currency Exchange Laundered Over $7 Billion in Stolen Funds
Posted by: Timothy Weaver on 07/27/2017 10:38 AM
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Alexander Vinnik, 38, a Russian national, has been arrested by Greek police.
Vinnik is the owner of the BTC-e bitcoin trading platform. The Department of Justice (DOJ) wants him on charges that he was involved in money laundering and the operation of an unlicensed money exchange.
Unnamed information sources say Vinnik used the platform to allow ransomware authors to cash in their ransoms and hackers to launder their stolen Bitcoins.
The DOJ indictment claims that Vinnik was also involved in laundering the money stolen from the now defunct Mt. Gox cryptocurrency exchange.
Vinnik's BTC-e platform was also involved in allowing ransomware authors to cash in their Bitcoins in exchange for fiat currency and cash-out their illegal activities including the CryptoWall ransomware infrastructure.
Researchers discovered that 95% of the ransom payments they tracked were cashed out by BTC-e. Those payments included funds from Locky, Cerber, NotPetya, WannaCry, Spora, and others. The research team found that ransomware payments totaled between $1 million and $2 million per month during 2016. BTC-e was used to cash out those funds. In total, it is estimated that BTC-e handled over $7 billion in ransomware funds and stolen crypto-currency.
If convicted, Vinnik could be facing 35 years in prison.
Source: Bleeping Computer
Vinnik is the owner of the BTC-e bitcoin trading platform. The Department of Justice (DOJ) wants him on charges that he was involved in money laundering and the operation of an unlicensed money exchange. Unnamed information sources say Vinnik used the platform to allow ransomware authors to cash in their ransoms and hackers to launder their stolen Bitcoins.
The DOJ indictment claims that Vinnik was also involved in laundering the money stolen from the now defunct Mt. Gox cryptocurrency exchange.
Vinnik's BTC-e platform was also involved in allowing ransomware authors to cash in their Bitcoins in exchange for fiat currency and cash-out their illegal activities including the CryptoWall ransomware infrastructure.
Researchers discovered that 95% of the ransom payments they tracked were cashed out by BTC-e. Those payments included funds from Locky, Cerber, NotPetya, WannaCry, Spora, and others. The research team found that ransomware payments totaled between $1 million and $2 million per month during 2016. BTC-e was used to cash out those funds. In total, it is estimated that BTC-e handled over $7 billion in ransomware funds and stolen crypto-currency.
If convicted, Vinnik could be facing 35 years in prison.
Source: Bleeping Computer
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