A few days ago, US authorities launched a crackdown on crypto company Bitzlato. They accuse the latter of having allowed the laundering of several million dollars of cryptos. The European criminal police agency Europol announced an event that happened in the framework of law enforcement action. Here is what it is.
The law enforcement action against Bitzlato continues!
Crypto exchange Bitzlato, whose CEO was recently arrested in the United States, is still in trouble with the law. Europol has published a statement revealing a large seizure made as part of the crackdown on Bitzlato. Law enforcement seized wallets from the crypto company. These contained approximately $19.5 million worth of crypto.
That said, the seizure is part of the enforcement action against the crypto exchange. Also, on January 23, Europol announced on Twitter that senior executives of the company have been arrested.
Furthermore, it appears that 46% of the assets that Bitzlato has transferred come from illicit activities. This percentage is equivalent to $1.09 billion. At the same time, the crypto exchange would have received over $2 billion in crypto. The funds were notably in bitcoin (BTC), Dash (DASH) and Dogecoin (DOGE). It turns out that a significant part of the funds was converted into Russian rubles.
Europol explained:Although crypto-to-fiat currency conversions are not illegal, investigations of cybercriminal operators have indicated that large volumes of criminal assets pass through the platform“.
The agency added that in most cases, suspicious transactions on Bitzlato are linked to sanctioned entities. Note that it is the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) which imposed the sanctions. Also, other suspicious transactions come from cyber scams, money laundering, ransomware, etc.
As part of the crackdown on Bitzlato, authorities froze more than 100 accounts on other crypto exchanges. The latter controlled 50 million euros. Additionally, US law enforcement seized Bitzlato’s servers. For them, the latter would represent a “major money laundering concernin connection with Russian illicit financing. Furthermore, US authorities have received assistance from several jurisdictions to carry out the enforcement action against Bitzlato. In particular, they have collaborated with law enforcement agencies in Belgium, Cyprus, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands.
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