Russian authorities have released the recently arrested co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato, which is said to have processed millions of US dollars worth of illicit funds. Anton Shkurenko, who was questioned in Moscow, denies the French charges against him that became the reason for his brief detention.
Shkurenko says that the possible case against him in Russia will not interfere with the relaunch of Bitzlato
Russian prosecutors have asked France to submit materials from its investigation into the seized digital asset exchange Bitzlato to determine whether to launch additional proceedings in Russia, the platform’s co-founder Anton Shkurenko has revealed to crypto media.
The trading platform was the subject of an international police operation last month when French authorities shut down its website and established control over its servers, while its other co-founder and majority owner, Anatoly Legkodymov, was arrested in Miami.
At the time, the US said Hong Kong-registered Bitzlato, best known to Russian traders, had processed $700 million in illicit funds between 2018 and 2022. Europol, which has detained four other members of its team, believes that the exchange has laundered $1 billion. It received most of the transfers from criminal entities such as the darknet marketplace Hydra and the Finiko crypto-pyramid.
Shkurenko explained that on February 7 he was approached by police officers in Moscow who checked his documents, informed him that he was on Interpol’s wanted list, and arrested him. He was then taken to the Tver Interdistrict Prosecutor’s Office, where he was interrogated.
“According to my explanation, the prosecutor issued a non-arrest order and I was released,” Shkurenko. said crypto news outlet Forklog, noting that authorities in France suspect him of 19-item misdemeanors without elaborating.
“What this means for Russian justice, I still do not understand. Russia does not extradite its citizens,” he too said, adding that prosecutors want to analyze French materials on the case to decide whether they should open another case in the Russian Federation.
Anton Shkurenko reiterated that he denies all the charges against him. Last week, he announced in an interview that Bitzlato will restore operations from Russia. The potential risk of a Russian criminal case should not interfere with these plans, he now assured.
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