Arrested Bitzlato Exchange Founder Seeks Help From Crypto Community – Exchange Bitcoin News

The founder of crypto exchange Bitzlato, who is facing a money laundering case in the US, is seeking support from members of the community. Anatoly Legkodymov was arrested in January for his role in the trading platform that allegedly processed illegal funds worth millions of dollars.

Bitzlato founder looks for bail bonds in the US

Anatoly Legkodymov, one of the founders and majority owner of the Russian-linked cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato, has turned to the crypto community in hopes of finding US citizens who will agree to become guarantors for his release on bail.

The Hong Kong-registered trading platform was disrupted in mid-January by law enforcement in Europe, with French investigators seizing its servers and hot wallet while several of its employees and managers were detained in other countries.

Legkodymov, a Russian citizen living in China, was arrested in Miami on money laundering charges. The US Department of Justice alleges that his exchange transferred at least $700 million in criminal proceeds from ransomware actors, darknet markets and crypto pyramids.

This week, Legkodymov issued his call for help through crypto media. US law allows defendants to be released before a decision is made in their case, provided they find guarantors for their bail, his lawyers explained, quoted by Russian crypto news outlet Bits.media. A group of Russian associates urged those who want to help him to reach out on Telegram, saying:

The crypto community knows Anatoly as a decent, law-abiding person and wants to help him get out of jail on bail until the end of the trial.

A user named “Anatoly Legkodymov” has been active on the Bitcointalk.org forum since 2011, the report noted, as well as on the Bits.media forum since 2016, when the crypto entrepreneur and his partners started their trading business under the name Changebot which later became Bitzlato .

Legkodymov appeared in New York federal court for the first time in mid-March, when he was ordered held without bail. The Russian denies the US accusations of money laundering.

Another Bitzlato co-founder, Anton Shkurenko, was briefly detained, questioned and released by Russian police in February. In a Youtube interview, he revealed that Bitzlato intends to move to Russia and restart operations from there. Earlier this week, the exchange reportedly restored partial access to users’ BTC balances.

Do you think US authorities will release Bitzlato founder Anatoly Legkodymov on bail? Share your thoughts on the matter in the comments section below.

Lubomir Tassev

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Eastern Europe who likes Hitchens’ quote: “To be a writer is what I am, rather than what I do.” Besides crypto, blockchain and fintech, international politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.