Russian founder of cryptocurrency exchange arrested in Miami, accused of dealing with dirty money as part of "high-tech axis of crypto crime"

Washington – The founder and senior executive of cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato was arrested on Tuesday in Miami and charged with directing the company to knowingly transmit funds derived from cybercrimes and other illicit activity, Justice Department officials announced Wednesday.

Anatoly Legkodymov, a Russian national living  in China, is accused of using Bitzlato to create a safe financial haven for criminals, requiring little identifying information for its customers and allowing transactions to go virtually untraced and shielded from investigators. According to prosecutors, the company even allowed users to submit fake registrant information to avoid detection. Investigators said that anonymity attracted drug and cyber criminals looking to exchange their illicit money to Legkodymov and his company.

Announcing the arrest, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Bitzlato's illegal transactions amounted to more than $700 million in direct and indirect exchanges between 2018 and 2022. The company's executives, including Legkodymov, allegedly communicated about the drug dealers and other criminals using their platform to hide their profits, investigators said, and even identified some of the proceeds transmitted through their portals as "dirty money."