In their indictment, the US authorities claim that Klimenko, aged 42, had been in control of the largest crypto exchange with Russian origins since 2011. The exchange ultimately collapsed in 2017, alongside Vinnik and other accomplices. The defendants have been charged with “international conspiracy to launder money and participate in the operation of an unlicensed digital currency exchange.” Initial estimates suggest that laundered funds amount to a staggering $9 billion.
According to the US justice system, Klimenko was responsible for overseeing the financial company FX Open and the technical aspects of Soft-FX. These entities were the ultimate recipients of funds funneled through offshore companies from BTC-e, as evidenced by the indictment documents.
BTC-e enabled users to trade cryptocurrencies with a strong level of anonymity, appealing to a client base heavily involved in criminal activities. The exchange and its team allegedly generated income by laundering funds obtained from identity theft schemes, hacking incidents, corrupt government officials, scammers, and drug trafficking, according to law enforcement officers.
BTC-e maintained servers in the USA, operated by Soft-FX. The exchange had numerous American clients, affirms the Ministry of Justice. However, the platform lacked measures to combat money laundering and lacked a system for verifying client identities.
US law enforcement initiated proceedings against the creators of BTC-e in 2017, leading to the arrest of Alexander Vinnik in Cyprus. Alexander Klimenko was detained in Latvia on December 21, 2023, pursuant to a US request, but he only flew to San Francisco, USA, on the eve of the indictment’s publication, on January 31, 2024.
If the charges are upheld by the American court and Klimenko is found guilty, he could face a maximum sentence of 25 years in federal prison. The Ministry of Justice does not disclose the potential sentence for Alexander Vinnik. In September, leaked information suggested that Vinnik was willing to cooperate with the investigation, aiming to reduce his sentence by admitting guilt in court.
Some former partners and clients of BTC-e have already begun expressing satisfaction over the impending fate of Klimenko and Vinnik.
“I’m gloating, I’m just happy. I don’t understand why it took so long to reach Klimenko, seven years,” writes the owner of payment companies that served BTC-e, Sergei Mayzus, on Telegram, “apparently, Vinnik started testifying.”
Russia is currently conducting its own investigation into the BTC-e case. In September, another exchange administrator, Alexey Bilyuchenko, received a relatively lenient sentence of 4.5 years in a general regime colony, alongside a fine of 1 million rubles. The verdict was based on the embezzlement of funds from Wex, the successor to BTC-e. Observers of the trial speculated that the leniency of the sentence was offset by the requirement to surrender any remaining multi-billion-dollar assets to individuals close to the state.