Polish police have arrested a Russian national linked to the now-collapsed WEX exchange on charges of fraud and money laundering. US authorities have requested his extradition for his cryptocurrency-related crimes and are currently waiting for the extradition process to be completed.
WEX ‘King of Cryptocurrencies’ Arrested in Poland
Local media, Friday I mentioned Polish authorities arrested a 37-year-old Russian citizen in Warsaw. Due to Polish laws, the media named the suspect “Dmitry F.” But he appears to be referring to the former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange WEX, Dmitry Vasiliev, who was born in Belarus.
Vasiliev was arrested by the “Shadowhunters”, an elite unit of the Central Bureau of Police Investigation (CBŚP), in an apartment in the Wola district, Krzysztof Rzeniewski, a spokesman for the CBŚP, revealed.
Wrześniowski noted that the arrest was based on a warrant issued by the Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office, which acted on an extradition request from the US Department of Justice. He added: “Dmitry V. is suspected of numerous fraud, money transfer and money laundering operations in connection with the management of one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world.”
It should be noted that Vasiliev was arrested in Poland in August 2021. The fugitive was detained at Warsaw’s Chopin Airport at the request of Kazakhstan, seeking his extradition for crimes related to cryptocurrencies. However, he was released after a few weeks in detention and returned to Russia.
Polish authorities have expressed concern about how Vasiliev returned to the country and remained undetected for so long, suggesting he may have lived quietly to evade the law.
Now, the wanted ‘crypto king’ faces a new extradition request from the US to stand trial for his alleged crimes. Wrześniowski stated that if extradited successfully, Vasiliev could face up to 20 years in prison.
The man is being held pending the completion of procedures related to his extradition to the United States.
WEX collapses at $450 million
As several media outlets reported, Vasiliev allegedly ran the services of the World Exchange (WEX) until its collapse in 2018. The exchange was created to “fill the gap” of the extinct cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e, which was shut down due to an FBI investigation into… issue. International money laundering and concealment of stolen funds from Jebel Jukes.
like I mentioned By BBC In 2019, despite Vasiliev being the figurehead, WEX was run “from the shadows” by Alexey Bilyuchenko. Bellyuchenko was a partner of Alexander Vinnik on the defunct BTC-e exchange.
After the collapse of BTC-e, he funded WEX with the help of millionaire Konstantin Malofeev. The stock market collapsed the following year when $450 million in customer funds disappeared. According to the BBC, Bilyuchenko stated that he lost control of the stock exchange in the spring of 2018 after being “tricked” by fake security service agents.
The suspect allegedly “suggested” that he send money to a wallet controlled by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in a meeting with Malofeev and “agents.” He claimed that Malofeev’s associates had deceived him.
However, the Moscow millionaire, who has strong ties to the Kremlin, denies these accusations. Bellyuchenko initially evaded US arrest in the BTC-e case, but was reportedly arrested by Russian authorities for the WEX collapse in 2022. In 2023, he was arrested. Charged By US authorities for his role in the BTC-e exchange and the Mt.Gox hack.
Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $97,831 in the one-week chart. Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView
Featured image from Unsplash.com, chart from TradingView.com