Media: Bitzlato co-founder Anton Shkurenko detained in Moscow
The co-founder of the Bitzlato cryptocurrency exchange, Anton Shkurenko, was detained in Moscow at Interpol’s request, according to Baza.
According to the publication, Shkurenko was sought by French investigators. He is suspected of extortion committed by a group of persons, “data theft and obtaining access to an automated data processing system”, as well as money laundering.
An extradition review will be conducted with respect to the Russian national, after which a decision will be made on his extradition to France.
Telegram channel Mendeleevshina! denied Shkurenko’s arrest.
Bitzlato representatives published an official statement, in which they did not provide any details about the situation, but merely noted the illegality of extraditing Russian citizens to a foreign state.
“The arrest and extradition from Russia to France of Anton Shkurenko, who ‘committed a crime’ on French soil, contradicts the rule of law”, they wrote.
Last week Shkurenko announced a forthcoming relaunch of the platform.
As previously reported, on January 17 the U.S. Department of Justice arrested the founder of Bitzlato Anatoly Legkodymov on charges of laundering $700 million tied to Hydra.
On January 18 the platform team announced a hack and withdrawal of part of the funds. A few hours later they announced the suspension of service.
Subsequently, it became known about the arrest of former chief executive Mikhail Lunev, marketing manager Alexander Goncharenko, contractor for implementing Monolithos DAO Pavel Lerner and the platform’s system administrator.
According to Europol, in total Bitzlato converted assets tied to criminal activity amounting to about €1 billion ($1.08 billion). Transactions were conducted in Bitcoin, Dash, Litecoin, as well as dollars and Russian rubles.
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