Belarus is looking for the owner of a cryptocurrency exchanger

Vladislav Kuchinsky, the owner of the Belarusian cryptocurrency exchange Bitok.me, has been put on the international wanted list. The Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus accuses him of tax evasion (approximately 9 million Belarusian rubles).

Investigators report that over two years, Kuchinsky and his accomplices conducted more than 8,000 cryptocurrency exchange transactions totaling $ 29 million. The exchanger’s activities were not legal, so the fraudsters did not pay taxes to the state treasury. Law enforcement officials explain: «During the commission of the crime, the defendants used network anonymization tools, SIM cards registered to fictitious persons and accounts on foreign crypto platforms. This allowed them to avoid attracting attention and stay in the shadows for a long time.»

Earlier, the police conducted several searches at Kuchinsky’s place, during which they seized equipment, data storage devices and more than $ 280,000. Law enforcers also seized the fraudsters' accounts in Belarus and Georgia, where about 2 million Belarusian rubles were kept.

Interestingly, the exchanger continued to operate even after the criminal case against the suspects was opened. Kuchinsky tried to counteract the investigation by withdrawing funds from controlled accounts and sending letters to clients asking them to ignore calls to the police.

As of today, a criminal case has been initiated against Kuchynskyi under Part 3 of Article 243 — tax evasion on a particularly large scale. He has been put on the international wanted list. Two of his accomplices are charged under Part 6 of Article 16, Part 3 of Article 243 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus — aiding and abetting tax evasion on a large scale.