Greek police have arrested a Russian man accused of heading a group which laundered $4 bln in Bitcoin over six years.
According to news resources RBC and Mail.ru, the unnamed man is now in custody following a joint operation by American and Greek law enforcement.
The arrest warrant was originally issued by the US Ministry of Justice and relates to activities involving the use of Bitcoin stretching back to 2011.
“We can confirm a Russian citizen was arrested yesterday (July 25) on the orders of the US Ministry of Justice,” a source from the Russian general consulate in Thessaloniki told RBC.
“His detention is not yet finalized, and for now he is simply under arrest.”
A raid on the 38-year-old’s hotel room produced multiple computers, phones and credit cards, Mail.ru further reports.
Details of the scheme are yet to emerge, but it is by far not the first incident of Bitcoin-related transactions leading to arrests and international headlines from the US.
Operating money transfer businesses without a license has frequently formed the motivation for jail sentences in recent years as informal Bitcoin trading goes awry.