Anatoly Legkodymov busted - Bitzlato

Anatoly Legkodymov

Anatoly Legkodymov, 40, was arrested in Miami and is charged with conducting an unlicensed money-transmitting business. His company processed more than $700m of illicit funds from 2018 to 2022. Bitzlato told customers and would-be customers that it had lax identification requirements. That made Bitzlato a haven for criminals world-wide. The company frequently did transactions with Hydra Market, the world’s largest dark-net marketplace. German cops shut down Hydra Market in April 2022. Prosecutors said that Bitzlato was subject to U.S. money-laundering rules even though it was based in China and run by a Russian.

Although the company claimed that it didn't allow U.S. users, prosecutors said the company did substantial business with Americans.

Bitzlato was a cryptocurrency exchange that was founded by Legkodymov in 2016. Bitzlato allowed customers to purchase cryptocurrencies with cash, exchange cryptocurrencies for other cryptocurrencies, and send cryptocurrency to other users. According to the Amended Complaint, since May of 2018, Bitzlato has processed $4.58 b worth of cryptocurrency transactions. Legkodymov is looking at 5 years.