US Justice Department Charges Two Russian Nationals With Stealing Thousands of Bitcoin Linked to Mt. Gox

• The US Department of Justice charged two Russian nationals, Alexey Bilyuchenko and Aleksandr Verner, for allegedly stealing thousands of bitcoin from the Mt.Gox crypto exchange from 2011 to 2014.
• Bilyuchenko and Verner were charged with conspiring to launder approximately 647,000 bitcoins, which belonged to Mt. Gox’s customers.
• They gained unauthorized access to Mt. Gox’s server to fraudulently cause bitcoins to be transferred to bitcoin addresses controlled by them and their co-conspirators.
• They laundered much of the stolen bitcoins through addresses associated with accounts under their names.
• Bilyuchenko also worked with Alexander Vinnik and others to operate the BTC-e exchange from 2011 until it was later shut down by law enforcement in July 2017.
• If convicted, each defendant could face up to 20 years in prison.

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