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BTC-e and its founder charged in 21-count indictment over hack of Mt. Gox

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Re: BTC-e and its founder charged in 21-count indictment over hack of Mt. Gox

#21

Post by tgtweak »

justinjlynn wrote: post #20
lettergram wrote: post #16

I still don't understand, the U.S. is charging a Russian with a white collar crime? The crime was committed outside the U.S., he didn't come to the U.S., the servers weren't in the U.S., Mt.Gox was based out of Japan, and Greek police arrested him. I've seen this enough to know this is common, but what is going on with this world?

MLATs (mutual legal assistance treaties), extradition agreements, and powerful people with powerful relationships willing to go the extra distance to fuck someone's shit up.

Let's not forget many mtgox customers were in the US.

Re: BTC-e and its founder charged in 21-count indictment over hack of Mt. Gox

#22

Post by openmosix »

The question for me is: why US? He is a Russian citizen, the company is based in Bulgaria, servers in Russia, legal HQ in Cyprus and all the services operated from Seychelles - arrested in Greece. The MtGox hack affected a Japanese company. I'm not debating the nature of the crimes, etc - I am just wondering, when does it become a US case?

I can get the "there were US customers" - but why not Europe? Or Japan? Or Russia? Or Australia? I'm sure BTC-e had customers from all over the world (and money laundry is pretty much a crime everywhere).

So, when does it become "you have broken the US law and you are under arrest"?. Does it work the other way around too? If you start a gay social network in US, can Russia come in (the first time you are flying in one of the Russia's partners territories) and say "you are breaking Russian gay laws, you are under arrest"?

Re: BTC-e and its founder charged in 21-count indictment over hack of Mt. Gox

#23

Post by RandVal30142 »

openmosix wrote: post #22

The question for me is: why US? He is a Russian citizen, the company is based in Bulgaria, servers in Russia, legal HQ in Cyprus and all the services operated from Seychelles - arrested in Greece. The MtGox hack affected a Japanese company. I'm not debating the nature of the crimes, etc - I am just wondering, when does it become a US case? I can get the "there were US customers" - but why not Europe? Or Japan? Or Rus…

> If you start a gay social network in US, can Russia come in (the first time you are flying in one of the Russia's partners territories) and say "you are breaking Russian gay laws, you are under arrest"?

Yes.

Re: BTC-e and its founder charged in 21-count indictment over hack of Mt. Gox

#24

Post by ue_ »

Interesting, I have been using BTC-E for a while, I had no idea this sort of thing happened. Was it knowingly assisted by someone at BTC-E, or did BTC-E just act as a dumb machine?

BTC-E was one of the eastiest ways for me to change BTC and LTC in day trading. Are there comparable websites with small fees? I'm not interested in buying with fiat money.

Re: BTC-e and its founder charged in 21-count indictment over hack of Mt. Gox

#25

Post by toomuchtodo »

RandVal30142 wrote: post #23
openmosix wrote: post #22

The question for me is: why US? He is a Russian citizen, the company is based in Bulgaria, servers in Russia, legal HQ in Cyprus and all the services operated from Seychelles - arrested in Greece. The MtGox hack affected a Japanese company. I'm not debating the nature of the crimes, etc - I am just wondering, when does it become a US case? I can get the "there were US customers" - but why not Europe? Or Japan? Or Rus…

> If you start a gay social network in US, can Russia come in (the first time you are flying in one of the Russia's partners territories) and say "you are breaking Russian gay laws, you are under arrest"? Yes.

People often don't realize that if you fly through US airspace after violating certain US laws as non-citizens, you will be apprehended through an emergency layover coordinated with the carrier. That's a contributor to why US federal three letter agencies constantly ingest passenger manifests.

Re: BTC-e and its founder charged in 21-count indictment over hack of Mt. Gox

#26

Post by kloncks »

ptenk wrote: post #18
lettergram wrote: post #16

I still don't understand, the U.S. is charging a Russian with a white collar crime? The crime was committed outside the U.S., he didn't come to the U.S., the servers weren't in the U.S., Mt.Gox was based out of Japan, and Greek police arrested him. I've seen this enough to know this is common, but what is going on with this world?

BTC-E didn't specifically bar US customer from trading there, so the indictment is on the grounds that their services were offered to US citizens, therefore liable to US Law.

iirc they rejected deposits from any American bank accounts and specifically said they won't work with German or US residents or citizens.

Re: BTC-e and its founder charged in 21-count indictment over hack of Mt. Gox

#27

Post by brokenmachine »

artursapek wrote: post #12
ryanlol wrote: post #2

There's been no mentions of coin seizures anywhere as far as I can tell. Usually you'd see some boasting about that. Perhaps these guys were actually smart about their cold storage?

https://xkcd.com/538/

I love xkcd, but I'm getting sick of seeing that one.

Re: BTC-e and its founder charged in 21-count indictment over hack of Mt. Gox

#28

Post by King-Aaron »

lettergram wrote: post #16

I still don't understand, the U.S. is charging a Russian with a white collar crime? The crime was committed outside the U.S., he didn't come to the U.S., the servers weren't in the U.S., Mt.Gox was based out of Japan, and Greek police arrested him. I've seen this enough to know this is common, but what is going on with this world?

Team America: World Police

Re: BTC-e and its founder charged in 21-count indictment over hack of Mt. Gox

#29

Post by ajross »

openmosix wrote: post #22

The question for me is: why US? He is a Russian citizen, the company is based in Bulgaria, servers in Russia, legal HQ in Cyprus and all the services operated from Seychelles - arrested in Greece. The MtGox hack affected a Japanese company. I'm not debating the nature of the crimes, etc - I am just wondering, when does it become a US case? I can get the "there were US customers" - but why not Europe? Or Japan? Or Rus…

The "why" is just "because the DoJ made a case before Europe or Japan". The "how" is just extradition. Greece was willing to extradite him to the US to face these charges. The US would do the same with Greece, though not with Russia as we lack an extradition treaty with Russia (and probably not to face a charge that would be a clear first amendment violation anyway).

Re: BTC-e and its founder charged in 21-count indictment over hack of Mt. Gox

#30

Post by dboreham »

lettergram wrote: post #16

I still don't understand, the U.S. is charging a Russian with a white collar crime? The crime was committed outside the U.S., he didn't come to the U.S., the servers weren't in the U.S., Mt.Gox was based out of Japan, and Greek police arrested him. I've seen this enough to know this is common, but what is going on with this world?

Because all money transits through US banks? (to a first approximation)
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