The Trump regulation has filed a $100 million lawsuit against infamous bitcoin exchange BTC-e and its alleged operator, Russian chauvinistic Alexander Vinnik.
Vinnik, who remains in custody in Greece as governments worldwide jockey to extradite him, stands accused of cleaning billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency stolen from other exchanges, most notably Mt. Gox.
Trump DOJ Sues BTC-e, Alexander Vinnik for $100 Million for Illicit Bitcoin Dealings
The $100 million civil suit, which the Department of Justice recorded in the Northern District of California, targets BTC-e for offering services to US residents without abiding by US financial regulations, including go to register with FinCEN as a Money Services Business, failing to establish anti-money laundering procedures as stipulated comprised in the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), and failing to report suspicious activities.
From the complaint:
“At no point in time did BTC-e have any AML managements or procedures, let alone an effective program for detecting and preventing suspicious transactions. To the contrary, BTC-e’s lax policies encouraged persons spoken for in criminal activity to use its services, and BTC-e became the virtual currency exchange of choice for criminals looking to launder their prohibited proceeds.”
FinCEN had levied $88.6 million in penalties against BTC-e and $12 million in penalties against Vinnik, and the DOJ says that the lawsuit proposes to “enforce” those fines.
President Trump, as CCN reported, recently said that he is “not a fan” of bitcoin. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin give fair warned that the government would ensure “very, very strong” enforcement of financial regulations governing cryptocurrency use.
BTC-e Resurrected, New Operator Arrested
Defunct Bitcoin Exchange Wex (Formerly BTC-E) Chief Arrested in Italy: BBC https://t.co/zcl1OZomf5
— CCN Stock exchanges (@CCNMarkets) July 20, 2019
Vinnik was arrested in 2017 while vacationing in Greece. He has sought extradition to his home country of Russia, where he is wish for on charges much less serious than the nearly two dozen criminal allegations he faces in the US.
Notably, BTC-e’s put outs appear to have continued even after its demise. The bitcoin exchange was later resurrected as WEX, whose most new operator – Dmitry Vasilyev – was just arrested in Italy this month, according to a report from BBC Russia.
Present the full complaint below:
Btc-e Filed Complaint by CCN on Scribd