DOJ Charges Mt. Gox Hackers for Exploiting the Exchange
- The DOJ charged Bilyuchenko with operating an unlicensed money exchange and laundering illegal funds.
- Mt. Gox shut down its operations in 2014 following a hack following a report that it had lost nearly 750,000 BTC.
Two Russian citizens have been charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with hacking one of the biggest and most well-known cryptocurrency exchanges, Mt. Gox, and triggering its subsequent downfall.
The DoJ accused Alexey Bilyuchenko, 43, and Aleksandr Verner, 29, of hacking the exchange and attempting to launder around 647,000 bitcoins ($17.2 billion). The figure, according to the DOJ, represented the “vast majority of the Bitcoin belonging to Mt. Gox’s customers.”
Assistant Director Bryan Vorndran of the FBI’s Cyber Division said in a statement,
When cybercriminals engage in fraudulent activity, such as hacking and illicitly operating cryptocurrency exchanges, it is critical that we impose costs on the bad actors and ensure they face justice.
The DOJ also charged Bilyuchenko with working with Alexander Vinnik between 2011 and 2017 to run the “illicit exchange,” BTC-e. Interestingly, U.S. government enforcement shut down BTC-e in 2017, and Vinnik was extradited from Greece to the U.S. for operating BTC-e and money laundering. The DOJ claimed that the team behind BTC-e allowed criminals to trade Bitcoin anonymously and move illegal funds.
U.S. Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey for the Northern District of California said,
For years, Bilyuchenko and his co-conspirators allegedly operated a digital currency exchange that enabled criminals around the world — including computer hackers, ransomware actors, narcotics rings, and corrupt public officials — to launder billions of dollars.
After suffering a devastating hack, Mt. Gox, a Japanese Bitcoin exchange, was forced to shut down its operations in 2014. Criminals used the exchange to steal 850,000 bitcoins, which are now worth $22.6 billion.
Investors who lost money are still waiting for a refund from the rehabilitation trustee, Nobuaki Kobayashi.
Lawrence has covered some exciting stories in his career as a journalist, he finds blockchain-related stories very intriguing. He believes Web3 will change the world and wants everyone to be a part of it.
