© Reuters. Bitzlato Co-Founder Anton Shkurenko Disputes Money Laundering Allegations
Benzinga – Anton Shkurenko, the co-founder of the now-defunct Russian cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato, spoke out against money laundering allegations made by U.S. and EU authorities.
Despite being briefly detained by police in Moscow for an ID check, Shkurenko denied any active criminal cases against him in Russia, in an interview with Coindesk.
He claimed Bitzlato did everything in its power to prevent criminal activity on the platform and was not ashamed of its work.
Bitzlato was shut down in January as a result of a cross-jurisdictional investigation by U.S. and European agencies, which found connections between the exchange and the darknet marketplace Hydra.
Shkurenko, who was one of the key holders of Bitzlato’s crypto wallets, said he handed control over to other team members.
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) formally labeled Bitzlato a “primary money-laundering concern.”
Shkurenko described Bitzlato as simply a “bulletin board” for cryptocurrency trades and said the exchange did not have any bank accounts and all revenue was received in cryptocurrency.
Prior to its shutdown, Bitzlato had begun moving its infrastructure from Europe to Russia, and most of its users’ funds are now under the control of the team.
Shkurenko said the exchange is ready to relaunch and gradually refund users who lost money due to the law enforcement shutdown.
Bitzlato, which was registered in Hong Kong and had Russian founders, had been in operation since 2016.
Co-founder Anatoly Legkodymov was arrested in Miami by the U.S. Department of Justice and charged with unlicensed money transmitting.
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Meanwhile, four more individuals allegedly connected to Bitzlato were arrested in Europe, and a server hosting the exchange’s hot wallet was seized, leading to the confiscation of 18 million euros worth of cryptocurrency.
European authorities also froze more than 100 accounts at other cryptocurrency exchanges linked to Bitzlato, bringing $32 million euros worth of assets under their custody.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Bitzlato’s largest counterparty was the now-defunct darknet marketplace Hydra.
The exchange also received over $15 million in ransomware proceeds and had connections to a Russia-based Ponzi scheme known as “TheFiniko.”
Europol reported 46% of all cryptocurrency that went through Bitzlato, worth approximately 1 billion euros, had links to criminal activities, and 3,500 Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) addresses and more than 1,000 user details from Bitzlato systems showed links with various criminal cases.
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