Aliaksandr Klimenka, a citizen of Belarus and Cyprus, is charged in the US for his participation in an international cybercrime involving money laundering.
According to the US Department of Justice announcement, Klimenka had control over the unlicensed digital currency ( Bitcoin ) exchange BTC-e, the technology services company Soft-FX, and the financial firm FX Open
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According to the indictment, Klimenka, through these companies, allegedly facilitated transactions related to various cybercrimes, such as ransomware, identity theft, illegal drug trafficking, fraud, and hacking.
BTC -e was a bitcoin exchange platform that primarily served the Russian market. In 2017, after the arrest of its owner Alexander Vinnik in Greece, it was seized by US law enforcement authorities.
The US Department of Justice announced that the platform was used to launder funds stolen during the attack on the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox. In addition, the platform was reportedly used to pay ransom demands in ransomware, including Locky, Cerber, NotPetya, WannaCry, and Spora.
Although the platform had an impressive presence in the United States, it was not registered as a financial services business with the U.S. Treasury Department. It did not require “know your customer” (KYC) and identity verification, and it had no mechanism to combat money laundering.
Klimenka, who is now 42, controlled BTC-e from 2011 to July 2017, until arrest and the site's shutdown.
According to the recent announcement, Klimenka was responsible for the management and maintenance of the servers based in the United States that supported BTC-e's operations through the company Soft-EX
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The man was arrested in Latvia on December 21, 2023 at the request of the United States and yesterday appeared for the first time in court in San Francisco.
On charges of money laundering and operating a financial services business without a license, Klimenka faces a possible 25-year prison sentence.
Source: bleepingcomputer.com
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