Russia Passes Bill on International Trade Using Crypto

Previously, the founder of the Russian cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato, Anatoly Legkodymov, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in the United States (US) for running an unlicensed money transfer business that covered up illegal gambling proceeds and drug transactions worth more than USD 700 million or equivalent to IDR 11.3 trillion (assuming an exchange rate of IDR 16,200 per US dollar).

Legkodymov, who has been in federal custody since his arrest in January 2023, was sentenced to prison Thursday by U.S. District Judge Eric Vitaliano in Brooklyn, New York. Legkodymov, who pleaded guilty in December.

Legkodymov said he knew for years that Bitzlato was being used as a conduit for transactions related to the dark web, including the notorious drug market Hydra Market, which was shut down by authorities in 2022.

Prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s office in Brooklyn, Breon Peace, argued that Legkodymov, who owned and controlled Bitzlato, deserved at least four years in prison for creating a clearinghouse for dirty money.

“He continued to allow the exchange to operate even after repeated warnings that it had become a “haven for criminals, drug dealers, ransomware extortionists on the dark web,” Peace was quoted as saying by Yahoo Finance, Thursday (7/25/2024).

However, at the sentencing hearing, the judge called the Metropolitan Detention Center where Anatoly Legkodymov is being held a bad place, which was a factor in the decision not to extend his sentence behind bars. In the past five weeks, there have been two murders of inmates at the prison.