Russian owner of cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato arrested in Miami

A Russian national who founded a cryptocurrency exchange that the justice department says became a haven for the proceeds of criminal activity has been arrested, federal officials said on Wednesday.

Anatoly Legkodymov, who lives in China, was arrested on Tuesday night in Miami and was due in court on a charge of conducting an unlicensed money-transmitting business.

The company, registered in Hong Kong, was founded in 2016 and operates globally.

The justice department said Bitzlato, either directly or through its intermediaries, conducted more than $700m in cryptocurrency exchanges with users of Hydra Market, a darknet marketplace for drugs, fake identifications and other illegal products. The justice department seized that marketplace last year and shut it down.

Legkodymov, 40, was in custody on Wednesday, and it was unclear if he had a lawyer who could comment on his behalf.

The treasury department worked with French authorities to identify the alleged criminal activities by Bitzlato, which US officials said was a sign of the global cooperation to purge bad actors from cryptocurrency markets.