The co-founder of Hong Kong-registered virtual currency exchange Bitzlato, a Russian national who U.S. authorities accuse of processing about $700 million in illicit funds, is expected to enter a guilty plea in a U.S. court on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Federal court records in Brooklyn showed Anatoly Legkodymov, Bitzlato's majority owner and co-founder, was set to appear before U.S. District Judge Eric Vitaliano at 2:30 p.m. EST for a "criminal cause for pleading," which usually indicates a defendant will plead guilty. Legkodymov, who U.S. officials have said ran Bitzlato from the Chinese city of Shenzhen, was arrested in Miami on Jan. 17. He has since been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Federal prosecutors said Legkodymov, 41, operated Bitzlato as an unlicensed money exchange business and swapped hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency with Hydra Market, which they described as a marketplace for drugs, stolen financial information and money laundering services. Bitzlato's website has since then been replaced by a notice saying the service has been seized by French authorities as part of a coordinated international law enforcement action. U.S. and German law enforcement shut down Hydra Market in April 2022.
