US has Russian arrested for involvement in laundering bitcoins from Mt. gox hack

The Russian who the Greek police arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of laundering $4 billion via bitcoins is alleged to be involved in the theft of currency at bitcoin exchange Mt. gox. The theft took place from 2011.

Individual researchers exploring the Mt. Gox case and publishing findings under the name WizSec say the Russian is the primary suspect in the case of laundering stolen bitcoins. They discovered his identity by following transactions for more than a year from the Russian, who did business online under the nickname WME.

The Greek police arrested the 37-year-old Russian on the instructions of American authorities, according to a statement from the American Public Prosecution Service. In the statement, the Public Prosecution Service says that the Russian would be the administrator of BTC-e and in that position deliberately stole many bitcoins from Mt. Gox was able to launder. He was not the thief himself.

As of 2011, many bitcoins from wallets on the bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox stolen. Users who had money there, have not seen anything of it. It is unknown if more arrests will follow in the case. The Russian faces a maximum of 55 years in prison if he is convicted in a lawsuit for all offenses the Public Prosecution Service suspects him of and he also receives the maximum sentence.