Moscow court sentences ex-BTC-e administrator to 3.5 years in prison

The Meshchansky District Court of Moscow has sentenced Alexei Bilyuchenko, the former technology administrator of BTC-e exchange and co-founder of WEX, to 3 years and 6 months in prison for misappropriation of the exchange’s funds.

Bilyuchenko would also have to pay a fine of 3.1 billion in rubles (around $33 million) for the damage he caused to the exchange’s customers. The prosecution wanted the Moscow judge to sentence Bilyuchenko to of 4.5 years in prison and fine him 1 million in rubles (around $10,500).

In June 2023, The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed charges against two Russian nationals, Alexey Bilyuchenko and Aleksandr Verner, in connection with the 2011 hacking incident involving Mt.Gox, a prominent Bitcoin exchange at the time.

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The charges accuse Bilyuchenko and Verner of engaging in a conspiracy to commit money laundering. Moreover, Bilyuchenko faces an additional charge in the U.S. for conspiring with Alexander Vinnik, who was extradited to the U.S. in August 2022 to be held accountable for operating BTC-e between 2011 and 2017.

As of February 2015, BTC-e handled around 3% of all Bitcoin (BTC) exchange volume.

According to reports, WEX exchange was ultimately handed over to Konstantin Malofeyev, a Russian citizen who has been charged with violating U.S. sanctions arising from the 2014 Russian “undermining of democratic processes and institutions in Ukraine,” as per the DOJ.

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