A dual Russian-Swedish national was convicted Tuesday in U.S. federal court for operating a notorious cryptocurrency mixer that moved about $400 million in bitcoin over the course of a decade.
Roman Sterlingov, 35, was arrested in April 2021 in Los Angeles on suspicion that he was behind the Bitcoin Fog mixer, a service used by hackers to obfuscate the origins of cryptocurrency.
According to the complaint, Sterlingov took commissions of 2 to 2.5 percent on transactions.
Sterlingov's anonymizer service was found to have sent or received at least $78 million in transactions involving darknet markets.
Represented by famous hacker lawyer Tor Ekeland, Sterlingov reportedly admitted to using the service but denied being its operator or founder.
His defense alleged that the blockchain analysis underpinning the case was faulty and Ekeland pledged to appeal in a post on X. Ilya Lichtenstein, the convicted hacker behind the heist of the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange, testified during the trial that he used the Bitcoin Fog mixer to conceal some of the stolen funds, although he did not correspond directly with Sterlingov.
Law enforcement has set its sights recently on the infrastructure that enables cybercrime to flourish.
In September of this year, the alleged co-founder of the mixer Tornado Cash will face a criminal trial.
The mixer is suspected of facilitating more than $1 billion in transactions for money laundering, including hundreds of millions for North Korea's Lazarus Group.
Russia claims US and 'Western countries' are trying to hack its presidential election.
LockBit administrator sentenced to almost four years in prison after guilty plea.
Has worked as a journalist around the world, including in Lebanon and in Cambodia, where he was Deputy Managing Editor of The Phnom Penh Post.
He is also a radio and podcast producer for outlets like Snap Judgment.
This Cyber News was published on therecord.media. Publication date: Wed, 13 Mar 2024 15:45:04 +0000