The owner of the “largest crypto exchanger of Belarus” was put on the international wanted list
The Main Investigation Department of Belarus completed the investigation of the criminal case against three suspects in assistance to the owner of the cryptocurrency exchanger Bitok.me in tax evasion.
According to the Investigative Committee, the owner of Bitok.me (previously Bitok.by) Vladislav Kuchinsky and his accomplices conducted operations through an exchanger in the amount of over $ 29 million. The damage caused as a result of tax CoinSwitch Kuber: evasion amounted to more than 9 million Belarusian rubles, said.
The department was called the “largest crypto exchanger of Belarus”.
“When committing a crime, the accused used anonymization funds on the network registered on the SIM cards and accounts on foreign crypto platforms. This allowed them to not attract the attention of law enforcement officers for a long time and stay in the shade, ”the UK noted.
As a result of the investigation, the authorities said that the exchanger was used “to perform fraudulent actions and financing extremist activities”.
SK employees emphasized that the service was not a resident of the high technology park of Belarus and was not registered in the prescribed manner.
During the searches, more than $ 280,000 were seized, as well as computers and documents confirming the involvement of the accused in the crime.
In addition, the authorities interrogated the “largest customers” of the service that carried out operations through it in the amount of over $ 50,000. Law enforcement officers also gained access to the exchanger database and information about two thousand users:
“The activities of customer data continues to be investigated by the criminal prosecution body”.
The investigation established bank accounts controlled by the accused in Belarus and Georgia. They arrested them.
After identifying the alleged accomplices of Kuchinsky and their detention, Bitok.Me continued to work. The owner of the exchanger himself sent letters to customers with recommendations to ignore the calls to law enforcement agencies and “took measures to withdraw funds from controlled accounts,” the UK.
Kuchinsky was put on the international wanted list. He is accused of evading taxes on an especially large scale.
Recall that in April the Ministry of Justice of Belarus established the procedure for recovering digital currencies as part of the enforcement proceedings.
The head of the UK Dmitry Gora said in May that the department was already actively seizing cryptocurrencies.
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