FBI agents have arrested Roman Sterlingov, the alleged main operator of Bitcoin Fog, a website that offers Bitcoin (BTC) “tumbler” or “mixer” services to anonymize crypto transactions.
Sterlingov is now jailed in Los Angeles on three charges – laundering money instruments, operating an unlicensed money transfer business, and unlicensed money transfer.
He was arrested after an undercover operation that began in 2019. Authorities said they tracked him by analyzing his Bitcoin transactions, financial records, Internet service provider records, email records, and other information.
According to a Legal statement Bitcoin Fog was filed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and has laundered more than 1.2 million BTC since October 2011 – about $ 335,809,383 at the time of transactions.
The IRS estimates that Sterlingov would have earned approximately $ 8 million in commissions if he had paid administration fees between 2% and 2.5% for each deposit at the time of the transactions.
“Because of the significant increase in value of Bitcoin over the course of the year Bitcoin fogOperation – from a low of about $ 2 shortly thereafter Bitcoin fog launched in fall 2011 to a current value of $ 50,000 – Sterlingov was able to significantly appreciate its profits held in Bitcoin.
The current value of Bitcoin fog Cluster – including customer funds in SterlingovControl and SterlingovTheir own money is almost $ 70 million. ”
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Featured image: Shutterstock / Gonin
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