DOJ unseals Mt. Gox charges against 2 Russian nationals

Alexey Bilyuchenko and Aleksandr Verner were charged with money laundering in connection with the Mt. Gox hack

article-image

Primakov/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

US charges against two Russian nationals tied to the 2011 hack of Mt. Gox, the then-massive bitcoin exchange, were unsealed on Friday. 

The Department of Justice named Alexey Bilyuchenko and Aleksandr Verner with conspiracy to commit money laundering. Bilyuchenko was also charged in another investigation from the Northern District of California, which alleged that Bilyuchenko worked with Alexander Vinnik. 

Bilyuchenko was charged with an additional count of money laundering conspiracy, as well as operating an unlicensed money services business. 

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite said that the charges mark an “important milestone” in prosecutors’ dual “major cryptocurrency investigations.” 

“As alleged in the indictments, starting in 2011, Bilyuchenko and Verner stole a massive amount of cryptocurrency from Mt. Gox, contributing to the exchange’s ultimate insolvency,” Polite said. “Armed with the ill-gotten gains from Mt. Gox, Bilyuchenko allegedly went on to help set up the notorious BTC-e virtual currency exchange, which laundered funds for cyber criminals worldwide.” 

The Mt. Gox hack, which began in September 2011 and lasted through May 2014, resulted in the loss of approximately 647,000 bitcoins (BTC). It went down as the largest ever disappearance of bitcoin in both bitcoin and dollar terms at the time, a designation that lasted for years.  

Bilyuchenko and Verner, as well as additional unnamed co-conspirators, were behind the theft from Mt. Gox, prosecutors said. 

“According to court documents unsealed in the Southern District of New York (SDNY), in or about September 2011, Bilyuchenko, Verner, and their co-conspirators allegedly gained unauthorized access to the server holding the cryptocurrency wallets for Mt. Gox,” the DOJ’s statement said. 

Prosecutors said that “between in or about March 2012 and in or about April 2013, the New York Bitcoin Broker allegedly transferred more than approximately $6.6 million to overseas bank accounts controlled by Bilyuchenko, Verner, and their co-conspirators.”

“In exchange for the wire transfers, the New York Bitcoin Broker allegedly received “credit” on Exchange-1, through which Bilyuchenko, Verner, and their co-conspirators allegedly laundered more than 300,000 of the bitcoins stolen from Mt. Gox,” the release continued.

The claims additionally tie Bilyuchenko to bitcoin launderer Vinnik to operate BTC-e from 2011 to 2017.

Vinnik was charged with a 21-count indictment in 2017, which alleged he had laundered over $4 billion in bitcoin through BTC-e. 

Last August, he was extradited to the US to face charges.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Featured.png

Research

Helium stands at a pivotal moment in its evolution as a decentralized wireless network, balancing rapid growth, economic restructuring, and global expansion. With accelerated growth in domestic DAUs and Hotspots supporting its network, Helium is leveraging strategic partnerships and innovative proposals to scale internationally. The recent implementation of HIP 138, “Return to HNT,” has unified its token economy under HNT, simplifying participation and strengthening liquidity, while HIP 139’s phase-out of CBRS refocuses efforts on scalable Wi-Fi offload. Meanwhile, governance shifts under HIP 141 raise questions about centralization as Nova Labs consolidates control over the roadmap.

article-image

The DeFi Education Fund has ideas on how the crypto-friendly SEC can bring Commissioner Peirce’s vision to life

article-image

“Be prepared to do more with less,” Framework Ventures’ Michael Anderson said

article-image

Q1 may have been “frustrating,” but things are looking brighter for Q2

article-image

Tokens worth 20% of the current supply of the TRUMP memecoin launched by the president are set to be unlocked tomorrow

article-image

A crypto-industry lawsuit is “moot” now that Joint Resolution 25 has been signed into law

article-image

Fed Chair Powell assured markets that the labor market is in “good place,” dependent on price stability