🔔 Breaking News! Alexander Vinnik, a former operator of the BTC-e crypto exchange, has pleaded guilty to money laundering charges, as announced by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Between 2011 and 2017, BTC-e processed over $9 billion in crypto transactions from over 1 million users. The exchange was linked to the infamous Mt. Gox hack, and was used to launder about 300,000 BTC.

Vinnik, who initially denied being an operator of BTC-e, was arrested in Greece and faced a lengthy extradition process. He was eventually extradited to the U.S. after serving a five-year sentence in France.

The DOJ revealed that BTC-e did not register as a money services business in the U.S., did not operate any know-your-customer or anti-money laundering rules and did not collect any customer data. Vinnik was directly responsible for some $121 million in losses.

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