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The
founder of a digital currency service that allegedly laundered hundreds
of millions of dollars for criminals has been sentenced to 20 years in
prison.
Arthur Budovsky was also ordered to pay a fine of $500,000.
The 42-year-old started his Costa Rica-based company, Liberty Reserve, in 2005.
Users
were asked for a name, email address, and their date of birth, though
it is alleged that users' identities were not properly checked.
Once registered, people could transfer money to other users.
Deposits
were converted into Liberty Reserve Dollars or Liberty Reserve Euros,
which were tied to the value of the US dollar and the euro, or to ounces
of gold.
Prosecutors claimed the service enabled criminals to store and launder the proceeds of illegal activity.
Liberty
Reserve was described by authorities as a "financial hub" for Ponzi
scheme operators, credit card traffickers, identity thieves and hackers.
The
US Department of Justice said that by the time it was shut down in 2013
it had more than 5.5m user accounts, including more than 600,000 in the
United States.
In its eight years, it processed more than 78 million financial transactions with a combined value of more than $8bn.
The case involved police and investigators from 17 countries.
Budovsky
was arrested in Spain in May 2013, after renouncing his US citizenship
and acquiring Costa Rican nationality in an apparent bid to avoid
prosecution.
He
pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit money laundering on
29 January, three days before his trial had been due to begin in New
York.
As
part of a plea agreement, he admitted laundering between $250m $550m in
criminal proceeds linked to Liberty Reserve accounts based in the US.
US District Judge Denise L. Cote said he had not expressed any "genuine remorse".
"The
significant sentence handed down today shows that money laundering
through the use of virtual currencies is still money laundering, and
that online crime is still crime," said Assistant Attorney General
Leslie R. Caldwell.
Six other people were linked to the case.
Co-defendants Maxim Chukharev and Mark Marmilev, who also pleaded guilty, were sentenced to three and five years respectively.
Two others will be sentenced later this month, while another two remain at large.
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