Aliaksandr Klimenka Arrested and Charged with Money Laundering in US

According to CoinDesk, Aliaksandr Klimenka, a Belarusian-Latvian entrepreneur, has been arrested in Latvia and appeared in a San Francisco court to face U.S. money-laundering charges. Klimenka and others are accused of laundering more than $4 billion tied to criminal activity until 2017. The Department of Justice (DOJ) stated that Klimenka was one of the men behind BTC-e, a now-defunct crypto exchange once popular with cybercriminals and money launderers. The accusations against Klimenka, unsealed on Tuesday, include several counts of money laundering and other felonies. According to the indictment, Klimenka laundered more than $4 billion worth of proceeds from criminal activities, including ransomware scams, identity theft schemes, and narcotics distribution rings in the early years of crypto between 2011 and 2017. Klimenka's lawyer did not immediately respond to CoinDesk's request for comment. The DOJ also stated that Klimenka did extensive business in the U.S, despite failing to register his exchange as a money service with the U.S. Department of Treasury. He also continually skirted anti-money laundering regulations and know your customer safeguards required by federal law. Klimenka is currently in federal custody in California, where he will remain for the duration of the court proceedings. If convicted on all counts, Klimenka faces a maximum prison sentence of 25 years. He is the latest of several people who have faced criminal charges in recent years over their involvement with the exchange, including Russian national Alexander Vinnik.