Russia frees Bitzlato co-founder Anton Shkurenko after questioning
Crypto media learned by platform co-founder Anton Shkurenko that Russian prosecutors have asked France to send materials from their investigation into the seized digital asset exchange Bitzlato in order to launch additional proceedings in Russia. The trading platform was targeted in an international law enforcement operation last month after French authorities shut down its website and seized control of all its servers while its co-founder and majority owner Anatoly Legkodymov was arrested in Miami. At the time, the US said that a Hong Kong-registered crypto exchange known to be a hotbed for Russian traders had processed $700 million in illicit funds between 2018 and 2022. The $1 billion it received was mostly transfers from criminal entities such as darknet market Hydra and crypto pyramid Finiko, and in addition, Shkurenko states that on February 7 he was contacted by police officers in Moscow who checked his documents and told him to He was reported to be on an Interpol wanted list and was taken into custody and later taken to the Tver inter-district prosecutor’s office where he was also interrogated. It is further reported that based on the clarification, the prosecutor issued a non-detention order and released him, as explained by Shkurenko to crypto news outlet Forklog, and noting that the authorities in France, without elaborating, 19 Suspected of an offence under articles. Of course he says that I do not yet understand what this means for Russian justice and that Russia does not extradite its citizens and he also added that the prosecutor wants to analyse the French material on the case. to decide whether it should open another case in the Russian Federation or whether it is necessary. Anton Shkurenko reiterates that he denies all the allegations against him and last week he announced in an interview that he would definitely resume operations from Bitzlato, Russia. The potential risk of a Russian criminal case should not deter or interfere with those plans as he has now assured.
