BTC-e mastermind pleads guilty to money laundering, platform causes at least $121 million in losses

According to BlockBeats, on May 4, according to official information from the U.S. Department of Justice, Aliaksandr Klimenka, the mastermind behind the BTC-e trading platform that has been shut down for several years, pleaded guilty to participating in a money laundering conspiracy. According to court documents, since its establishment around 2011, until around July 2017, BTC-e processed more than $9 billion worth of transactions and served more than one million users worldwide, including many customers in the United States. BTC-e is one of the main ways for global cyber criminals to transfer, launder money and store criminal proceeds from illegal activities. BTC-e has received criminal proceeds from many computer intrusions and hacking incidents, ransomware attacks, identity theft schemes, corrupt public officials and drug distribution gangs. Klimenka operated BTC-e for the purpose of promoting these illegal activities and was responsible for at least $121 million in losses. BlockBeats previously reported that on February 2, the U.S. Department of Justice said that Aliaksandr Klimenka, the mastermind behind the BTC-e trading platform that has been closed for several years, was arrested in Latvia. He was accused of participating in money laundering related to criminal activities between 2011 and 2017, involving more than $4 billion.