Founder of one of the largest Bitcoin transaction platforms arrested
Founder of one of the largest bitcoin mixing platforms arrested for laundering $ 336 million in bitcoin
Federal forces in the United States have arrested a Russian-Swedish citizen named “Roman Sterlingoff” on suspicion of laundering nearly $ 336 million in bitcoin over the past ten years.
The criminal will appear in court and face three main charges:
- Money laundering.
- Money laundering without permission.
- Unauthorized transfer of funds.
Money laundering over the past ten years:
According to a recent report, the US authorities have arrested Roman Stirlinov, founder of Bitcoin Fog.
Roman Stirlinov founded the Bitcoin Fog in 2011, which was able to mix suspicious Bitcoin transactions with legitimate ones to make it difficult to track them from the legal authorities.
Court evidence alleged that Roman Stirlinov laundered Bitcoin worth $ 336 million.
Stirlinov, who is based in Russia and Sweden, is supposed to have enabled users to combine their transactions with those of others to avoid anyone who scans the Bitcoin blockchain from spotting any suspicious personal payments.
The service provided by "Sterlingoff" charges commissions between 2% and 2.5%.
According to calculations by the IRS, the culprit obtained $ 8 million worth of Bitcoin without taking into account the recent price hike in Bitcoin.
The report claimed that Sterlingoff used the money to create a Bitcoin Fog server, which sparked concerns within the IRS.
After his arrest, “Roman Stirlinov” will face the aforementioned charges.
Sarah Mickelson, a computer scientist at University College London, praised the "money tracking" technology that investigators use today and stated:
With blockchain analytics, the thing we say over and over again is that all this activity is on the blockchain forever, and if you did something bad 10 years ago, you could be arrested and arrested for that day.
Bitcoin Fog and the Dark Web:
As mentioned earlier, Bitcoin Fog is an internet service that operates on an anonymous dark web.
Created by a team of independent developers in 2011, it became the first and most popular bitcoin transaction mixer.
US officials report that over the years of its existence, the network has been linked to several dark web marketplaces for selling drugs such as Silk Road, Agora, and Alphabet.
Interestingly enough, Bitcoin Fog is still active and active on the Internet even after Roman Sterlinov was arrested.
Currently, there is no information, who runs the platform, as both the tax authority and the Ministry of Justice refused to comment on the matter.