Europol confiscated digital wallets valued at approximately $19.5 million in an operation targeting the exchange platform Bitzlato
source foto Europol
Europol declared Monday that it had captured crypto wallets worth around €18 million ($19.5 million) in cryptocurrencies, vehicles, and electronic equipment in a raid against the Hong Kong-based crypto exchange Bitzlato.
The EU agency reported five arrests thus far, eight house searches, the confiscation of digital infrastructure for further investigation, and the blocking of over 100 accounts worth a total of €50 million.
“Targeting facilitators such as crypto-exchanges is becoming increasingly important in the battle against cybercrime,” Europol said in a statement.
“Law enforcement and judicial authorities from Belgium, (Greek) Cyprus, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands assisted in the operation which also included taking down the digital framework of this platform based in France, as well as interrogating senior members of its management,” they added.
Citing that Bitzlato allowed various crypto assets to be rapidly converted into Russian rubles, Europol estimated that assets worth €2.1 billion have been received by the platform.
Last week, the US Justice Department took action against Bitzlato and apprehended its founder Anatoly Legkodymov, a Russian national, in Miami, Florida.
Cryptoanalysis and international coordination to uncover links
Europol provided analytical support for digital evidence linking available data to various criminal cases within and outside the EU. Europol helped coordinate law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation in the action area, which included developing digital evidence of cryptocurrency transactions and analyzing these transactions. Cryptocurrency activity traced by law enforcement agencies connected to Europol’s databases to at least 3,500 bitcoin addresses and 1,000 Bitzlato user accounts.
These cases are expected to help investigations find more evidence of illegal activity and possibly track down other criminal activity linked to these accounts. Europol maintains close contact with law enforcement authorities involved in this investigation to better understand the results of the operation and follow leads wherever they may take them.
