Former Microsoft software engineer sentenced to prison for Bitcoin fraud

A U.S. court sentenced former Microsoft software engineer Vladimir Kvashuk to prison for theft, money laundering, and tax fraud involving bitcoins. The losses from his scheme exceeded $10 million, stated in a Justice Department press release.

A Washington-based Ukrainian citizen worked at Microsoft from August 2016 to June 2018. He tested the company’s online retail platform, through which he stole and sold digital gift cards.

Kvashuk used colleagues’ test accounts and a Bitcoin mixer to conceal the crime. Over seven months, about $2.8 million in bitcoin was credited to his bank accounts — in the tax return, the former employee claimed that the cryptocurrency came from a relative.

With the stolen funds, he bought a lakefront home worth $1.6 million and a Tesla for $160,000.

For concealing taxable income, filing fake tax returns, theft and money laundering, Kvashuk was sentenced to nine years in prison. The court also ordered him to pay more than $8 million in restitution.

Earlier in November, a U.S. court sentenced Russian citizen Alexander Brovko to eight years in prison for theft and sale of personal data. The damages from the criminal scheme were estimated at more than $100 million.

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