Cryptocurrency fraudster from Russia laundered $ 450 million on digital assets

Polish law enforcement officers detained Dmitry V., the former head of the Russian cryptocurrency exchange WEX, in Warsaw at the request of the US Department of Justice. He is suspected of fraud and money laundering related to the activities of WEX, which was the successor to the notorious BTC-e exchange that ceased operations in 2018.

According to Polish media, Dmytro V. was previously arrested in Poland in 2021, but released after 40 days in prison by a court order. He was subsequently detained in Croatia in 2022 on an Interpol warrant and in Italy in 2019, but was then released due to errors in his extradition documents.

WEX was known as an exchange that did not follow user identification procedures and received funds from a number of major cryptocurrency hacks, including the Mt. Gox scandal. Since its launch, WEX has processed more than $ 9 billion in transactions for more than a million users, including those in the United States. Currently, $ 450 million is being linked to the exchange.

If Dmitry V. is extradited to the United States, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. This is a continuation of large-scale measures to regulate the cryptocurrency sector, which have already led to the imprisonment of the former head of BTC-e, Alexander Vinnik, known as «Mr. Bitcoin.»