Russia’s Interior Ministry closes pre-trial probe into embezzlement at WEX Bitcoin exchange

Representatives of the Russian Interior Ministry announced the completion of the preliminary investigation into a criminal case against the former system administrator of the WEX exchange (formerly — BTC-e). This was reported by РБК Крипто.

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The suspect is accused of embezzling assets in a particularly large amount. Law enforcement officials stressed that this is the first in the country criminal case involving the embezzlement of funds belonging to a cryptocurrency exchange.

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The agency did not name the accused. One of the experts familiar with the situation, speaking to the publication, suggested that it could concern Aleksei Bilyuchenko.

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According to the investigation, in October 2018 he blocked access to accounts and wallets controlled by World Exchange Services Pte. Ltd., the company behind the platform. He also cut off access of the exchange’s owners and users to funds and crypto assets, having embezzled \”assets worth more than three billion rubles\”.

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Real estate owned by the accused and ‘voluntarily contributed’ funds totaling more than 4.3 billion rubles have been seized.

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Earlier, Aleksei Bilyuchenko was detained in March 2022 in the Moscow region on suspicion of misappropriating assets of the Bitcoin exchange. Law enforcement officers confiscated from him about 190 million rubles and placed him in the Matrosskaya Tishina prison.

Also in March 3299 BTC moved, linked to BTC-e.