- RG Coin founder convicted of money laundering
- Iossofov operated as part of an international autioneering fraud network
- Iossofov to be sentenced January 2021
The owner of RG Coin crypto exchange platform, Rossen Iossifov, a 53-year-old Bulgarian international, has been accused of running a money laundering scheme, as a component of a multinational auctioneering conspiracy project. After fourteen days of court hearings in the United States, a federal jury concluded that the Bulgarian citizen was culpable of engaging in money laundering fraud and organized crimes.
Money laundering suspect convicted
The final judgment against Iossinov will be delivered on January 12 next year. The federal jury discovered that Romania-based associates of the convicted Kentucky residents posted promotional content on Craigslist and eBay for valuable non-existent products including cars, defrauding approximately 900 United States citizens in the process.
The swindlers allegedly presented unsuspecting victims with counterfeit paperwork and consignment papers attributing trustworthy brands’ emblems to appear legitimate. Furthermore, the gang hired auxiliary personnel and a customer care team to attend to buyers difficulties and mitigate problems.
After closing a deal, the RG Coin owner would transform the fiat into digital assets and transmit the funds’ to tax havens. As per the jury’s findings, Iossifov deliberately offered services to the money laundering ring for at least three years, spanning from Sep. 2015 to Dec.2018, interchanging over $4.9 million BTC for the other four ring members.
The United States federal agents teamed up with Romanian law enforcement units and to indict the swindlers. The Bulgarian national is one of the 17 suspects to have been prosecuted in connection with the lawsuit, with the other three criminals currently on the run. The feds deported over 12 suspects from Romania to the United States for conviction.
Rise in cryptocurrency crimes
A study conducted by blockchain intelligence firm, CypherTrace back in June, concluded that the value of fraudulent funds embezzled through digital assets during the first five months of 2020 stood over $1 billion. The report further noted that if matters continued at the same pace, the entire value of crypto assets stolen this year might rise to eclipse 2019’s $4.5 billion total.
