DOJ unseals Mt. Gox charges against 2 Russian nationals
US charges a gains t two Russian nationals tied to the 2011 hack of Mt. Gox, the then-massive bitcoin exchange, were unsealed on Friday. The Department of Justice named Alexey Bilyuchenko and Aleksandr Verner with conspiracy to commit money laundering. Bilyuchenko was also charged in another investigation from the Northern District of California, which alleged that Bilyuchenko worked with Alexander Vinnik. Bilyuchenko was charged with an additional count of money laundering conspiracy, as well as operating an unlicensed money services business. Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite said that the charges mark an “important milestone” in prosecutors’ dual “major cryptocurrency investigations.” “As alleged in the indictments, starting in 2011, Bilyuchenko and Verner stole a massive amount of cryptocurrency from Mt. Gox, contributing to the exchange’s ultimate insolvency,” Polite said. “Armed with the ill-gotten gains from Mt. Gox, Bilyuchenko allegedly went on to help set ...