In Russia, the second co-founder of the Bitzlato exchange was detained

The investigation into the activities of the exchanger Bitzlato received an unexpected development – at the request of Interpol, the second co-founder of the site, Anton Shkurenko, was arrested in Moscow. Literally the day before, he managed to promise the clients of the exchanger the resumption of work.

The request for the arrest of Shkurenko came from French investigators, the Baza telegram channel close to law enforcement writes. Shkurenko is suspected by international investigators of several offenses at once – extortion, data theft and “gaining access to an automated data processing system”, as well as money laundering. It is not yet known whether the detainee will be handed over to the French side – Russian law enforcement officers will conduct an extradition check and only then decide the fate of the co-founder of Bitzlato.

The Bitzlato exchange was founded in 2017 by Anatoly Legkodymov and Anton Shkurenko. The first was arrested in the United States in mid-January at the request of the FBI. According to US prosecutors, the Bitzlato service is associated with large-scale money laundering from various criminal activities. The amount of money laundered, according to foreign investigators, can reach $715 million.

Anton Shkurenko promised that the service would restore work and pay all funds to users. Earlier, Bits.Media published a large-scale material with an analysis of the situation around Bitzlato.