[1/2] Smartphone with displayed Binance logo and representation of cryptocurrencies are placed on keyboard in this illustration taken, November 8, 20

Exclusive: Binance moved $346 mln for seized crypto exchange Bitzlato, data show

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2023-01-24 13:30:11

[1/2] Smartphone with displayed Binance logo and representation of cryptocurrencies are placed on keyboard in this illustration taken, November 8, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

LONDON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Crypto giant Binance processed almost $346 million in bitcoin for the Bitzlato digital currency exchange, whose founder was arrested by U.S. authorities last week for allegedly running a "money laundering engine," blockchain data seen by Reuters show.

The Justice Department on Jan. 18 said it charged Bitzlato’s co-founder and majority shareholder Anatoly Legkodymov, a Russian national living in China, with operating an unlicensed money exchange business that "fueled a high-tech axis of cryptocrime" by processing $700 million in illicit funds.

Bitzlato had touted the laxity of its background checks on clients, the Justice Department said, adding that when the exchange did ask users for ID information, "it repeatedly allowed them to provide information belonging to "straw man" registrants."

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