BlocksInform
Bitzlato, the little-known crypto exchange that last week was charged by the U.S. with money laundering, exchanged around 1 billion euros ($1.08 billion) in assets linked to criminal activities, European Union police agency Europol said in a statement Monday.
"Targeting crucial crime facilitators such as crypto exchanges is becoming a key priority in the battle against cybercrime," Europol said, citing transactions in multiple crypto currencies including bitcoin (BTC), Dash and Litecoin, as well as U.S. dollars and Russian rubles.
The company's CEO, financial director and market director were all arrested in Spain, as well as one additional individual in Cyprus and one in the U.S., Europol said, after the U.S. Department of Justice announced it had shut down the Hong Kong platform and taken founder Anatoly Legkodymov into custody in Miami.
The statement issued by Europol, the EU agency coordinating the activities of national security forces within the bloc, details the searches in Spain, Cyprus and Portugal; the dismantling of France's digital infrastructure; and seizures of EUR 18 million (USD 19.5 million) in cryptocurrency, vehicles and electronics, plus a EUR 50 million (USD 54.3 million) crypto freeze at other exchanges.
On Jan. 18, the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) formally labeled the company a “primary money-laundering concern,” a serious designation which usually cuts off a business off from the global financial system.
Crime-related assets accounted for around 46 per cent of the €2.1 billion ($2.3 billion) received by the platform, according to euro pol.
