US arrests Russian national over laundering 1.2 million BTC

The US authorities арестовали the alleged operator of the Bitcoin Fog bitcoin-mixing service, Roman Sterlingov. He is charged with laundering about $336 million through cryptocurrency and providing payment services without a licence.

According to investigators, the Bitcoin mixer, launched in 2011, was used to transfer about 1.2 million BTC ($335.8 million at the time of the transactions).

These coins are believed to have originated from various hacked exchanges and darknet markets Silk Road, Evolution, AlphaBay, Agora and Silk Road 2.0.

Bitcoin Fog is not registered as a money services provider and does not hold a licence to operate in Washington, DC.

Using analysis of bitcoin transactions, financial records, internet-provider logs and email correspondence, investigators identified the Russian- and Swedish-national Roman Sterlingov as the main operator of Bitcoin Fog.

Prosecutors say they have established a link between Sterlingov and the Bitcoin Fog domain via his transactions in the Liberty Reserve data-sale system and accounts on the defunct Mt. Gox exchange.

In October 2020, the US Department of Justice first deemed cryptocurrency mixing a crime. Then [simple_tooltip content=’Сеть по борьбе с финансовыми преступлениями’]FinCEN[/simple_tooltip] fined the founder of the Bitcoin mixer Helix and Coin Ninja CEO Larry Din Harmon $60 million.

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