The proprietor of a Bulgarian bitcoin trade has been sentenced to jail in the United States for his involvement in a transnational multimillion-dollar online auction fraud scheme that conned above 900 Americans out of extra than $7m.
Just after a two-week demo in September 2020, a federal jury in Kentucky located Rossen G. Iossifov guilty of a single depend of conspiracy to commit racketeering and a person depend of conspiracy to commit revenue laundering. On January 12, US District Court Judge Robert E. Weir sentenced 53-yr-outdated Bulgarian native Iossifov to 121 months in prison.
Protect your privacy by Mullvad VPN. Mullvad VPN is one of the famous brands in the security and privacy world. With Mullvad VPN you will not even be asked for your email address. No log policy, no data from you will be saved. Get your license key now from the official distributor of Mullvad with discount: SerialCart® (Limited Offer).
➤ Get Mullvad VPN with 12% Discount
Iossifov owned and managed RG Coins, a cryptocurrency exchange headquartered in Bulgaria’s cash city, Sofia. In accordance to trial proof, Iossifov knowingly and deliberately engaged in business enterprise procedures made to both equally assist fraudsters in laundering the proceeds of their fraud and to defend himself from any legal liability.
At least five of Iossifov’s principal purchasers had been Romanian scammers, who belonged to a felony company referred to in court docket data as the Alexandria (Romania) On-line Auction Fraud (AOAF) Network.
These scammers defrauded hundreds of persons by submitting wrong ads to well known online auction and gross sales websites, together with Craigslist and eBay, for higher-expense items (typically autos) that did not actually exist.
“At the time victims were persuaded to mail payment, the conspiracy engaged in a complicated money laundering plan whereby domestic associates would acknowledge victim money, convert these cash to cryptocurrency, and transfer proceeds in the form of cryptocurrency to international-primarily based revenue launderers,” stated the Section of Justice.
“Iossifov was one these international-primarily based income launderer who facilitated this ultimate move in the scheme.”
Iossifov permitted his felony customers to entire cryptocurrency exchanges for dollars without having inquiring for any identification or documentation to clearly show the resource of resources. He also gave members of the AOAF Network exclusive treatment method by providing them with extra favorable trade premiums than he offered to his other consumers.
An investigation by regulation enforcement discovered that Iossifov laundered practically $5m in cryptocurrency for four of the 5 scammers in less than 3 yrs. In return, the bitcoin trade owner built around $184,000.
Iossifov is 1 of 17 customers of AOAF who have been convicted for their role in this plan so much.
Some areas of this report are sourced from:
www.infosecurity-journal.com