US costs two founders of sanctioned digital forex mixer Twister Money with cash laundering

By Christopher Bing and Zeba Siddiqui

(Reuters) -The USA on Wednesday indicted Roman Semenov and Roman Storm, two co-founders of the digital forex mixer Twister Money, for his or her involvement with the banned outfit and associated laundering of as much as $1 billion in felony proceeds.

Storm, a naturalized U.S. citizen who lives in Washington state, was arrested on Wednesday, whereas Semenov – a Russian nationwide – is but to be taken into custody, the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace in New York mentioned in an announcement.

The felony costs in opposition to each males, which embrace conspiracy to commit cash laundering and sanctions violations, come one yr after the U.S. Treasury banned Twister Money on allegations that it helps North Korea.

The outfit facilitated greater than $1 billion in cash laundering transactions and laundered “lots of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars}” for North Korean government-linked cybercrime group Lazarus, U.S. officers mentioned.

So-called digital forex “mixers” take the cryptocurrencies of many customers and mash them collectively to assist conceal the supply and homeowners of the funds. They’ve change into the “go-to methodology for criminals to hide their ill-gotten good points,” Performing Assistant Legal professional Normal Nicole Argentieri mentioned in an announcement.

“The defendants operated Twister Money as a protected haven for felony actors to obfuscate the path of funds tied to their felony actions, resembling pc hacking and wire fraud,” she added.

Storm’s lawyer Brian Klein mentioned his consumer “disputes” having engaged in any felony conduct and had been cooperating with prosecutors’ investigation over the previous yr.

“We’re extremely disenchanted that the prosecutors selected to cost Mr. Storm as a result of he helped develop software program, they usually did so primarily based on a novel authorized principle with harmful implications for all software program builders,” Klein mentioned.

Waymaker Legislation, the agency representing Semenov, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. Neither did the FBI.