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Bitzlato takedown

January 2023, Cryptocurrency laundering
Led by United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, Gendarmerie nationale

Corrected and source linked. Verified August 23, 2026.

What was taken down?

Digital infrastructure dismantled in France; assets seized.[1][3][4][5]

See what happened

What happened to the people?

Officials reported 1 charged, 5 apprehended, and 1 convicted.
1 charged, 1 apprehended, and 1 convicted named in the public record.
Group accounted for: Likely complete

See people and accountability

Did it stay down?

Not established in the public record. No later activity is recorded against this entry.

See what happened afterward

French authorities dismantled Bitzlato's digital infrastructure while US and European partners seized cryptocurrency and other assets; founder Anatoly Legkodymov was charged with operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and arrested in Miami.[1][3][4][5]

Date
January 2023
Target
Bitzlato, cryptocurrency exchange
Activity
Cryptocurrency laundering
Operational lead
USAO-EDNY and French Gendarmerie
Partners
Europol, FinCEN[1][2]
Jurisdiction
United States, France, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, Belgium, Netherlands, and Hong Kong
Outcome
Digital infrastructure dismantled in France; assets seized.
Status
Completed
Legal mechanism
French judicial process; US federal criminal complaint.
Group accounted for
Likely complete

Infrastructure

Servers disabled and cryptocurrency wallets seized, with no count in the record.

Identifier Recorded as Status Notes
Not published Server Disabled, France Bitzlato rented dedicated servers from a hosting company in France; the platform's digital infrastructure was taken down there on the action day.[1][3]
Not published Cryptocurrency wallet Seized Seizures on the action day included crypto wallets worth about EUR 18 million in cryptocurrency, plus vehicles and electronic equipment; over 100 accounts at other crypto exchanges involving a total of EUR 50 million were frozen. Wallet count not published.[3]

Domains and onion addresses are shown defanged. Where the record gives a count but no identifier, the count is shown in place of one. This list carries only what appears in the cited sources.

1
charged
1
apprehended
1
convicted

Named in the public record: 1 charged, 1 apprehended, and 1 convicted.

Figures count individuals named in charging documents and official statements, each person once per outcome. People alleged to be involved but not publicly identified are not counted.

Reported and named. Officials reported 1 charged, 5 apprehended, and 1 convicted. 1 charged, 1 apprehended, and 1 convicted named in the public record. The two figures come from different places and are never added together. Officials publish a headline total, and this index counts only the individuals it can name from the cited record.
Person Role Current public status
Founder of Bitzlato ArrestedChargedPleaded guiltySentenced
Charging authority
United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York
Main charges
Conducting an unlicensed money-transmitting business; Operating an unlicensed money transmitting business that transported and transmitted illicit funds
Case number
23-CR-496 (ENV)
Arresting authority
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Arrest location
Miami, FL, United States
Extradition status
Not established in the public record
Conviction or plea
Pleaded guilty, December 6, 2023
Sentence
Time served plus two years of supervised release; $100 special assessment; order of forfeiture entered
Segment
Core operator
Sources
[1][4][5][6]
Full record
Everything indexed for Anatoly Legkodymov

Anatoly Legkodymov

Founder of Bitzlato. Current public status: Arrested, Charged, Pleaded guilty, and Sentenced.

Charging authority
United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York
Main charges
Conducting an unlicensed money-transmitting business; Operating an unlicensed money transmitting business that transported and transmitted illicit funds
Case number
23-CR-496 (ENV)
Arresting authority
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Arrest location
Miami, FL, United States
Extradition status
Not established in the public record
Conviction or plea
Pleaded guilty, December 6, 2023
Sentence
Time served plus two years of supervised release; $100 special assessment; order of forfeiture entered
Segment
Core operator
Sources
[1][4][5][6]
Full record
Everything indexed for Anatoly Legkodymov

Rows expand to show charging authority, case identifiers, custody status, and sources.

Group accounted for: Likely complete

Sole named founder charged and arrested; later pleaded guilty.

See the organizations and roles behind this action

Anatoly Legkodymov pleaded guilty on 2023-12-06 to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and agreed to dissolve Bitzlato and relinquish claims to approximately USD 23 million in seized assets. He was sentenced on 2024-07-18 to time served plus two years of supervised release (judgment entered 2024-07-30, EDNY 1:23-cr-00496). In 2025 the United States filed an extradition complaint on behalf of France seeking his surrender (W.D. Pa. 2:25-mc-00123), and the court issued an opinion and certification of extraditability.[1][3][4][5]

Not established in the public record. No later activity is recorded against this entry.

The re-verification pass changed 14 values on this record. What was there before is kept below so the change can be checked.

Field Was Now Why it changed
Reported convicted count Not recorded 1 Anatoly Legkodymov pleaded guilty on 2023-12-06. Founder and Majority Owner of Bitzlato, a Cryptocurrency Exchange, Charged with Unlicensed Money Transmitting, Founder and Majority Owner of Cryptocurrency Exchange Pleads Guilty to Unlicensed Money Transmitting
What happened afterward Not recorded Anatoly Legkodymov pleaded guilty on 2023-12-06 to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and agreed to dissolve Bitzlato and relinquish claims to approximately USD 23 million in seized assets. No later official sentencing release was located in this pass. Verified current outcome through the latest located official source. Founder and Majority Owner of Bitzlato, a Cryptocurrency Exchange, Charged with Unlicensed Money Transmitting, Founder and Majority Owner of Cryptocurrency Exchange Pleads Guilty to Unlicensed Money Transmitting
Reported apprehended count 1 5 The record counts only the one US arrest (Legkodymov) reported by DOJ. Europol's official aggregate for the same action day is five arrests across three countries. reported_* fields should carry the official aggregate. Bitzlato: senior management arrested
Person actions/pa legkodymov arrested.occurred on 2023-01-18 2023-01-17 Release is dated Wednesday 2023-01-18 and says he was arrested 'last night', i.e. 2023-01-17. 2023-01-18 is the date the complaint was unsealed (already recorded on pa_legkodymov_charged). Founder and Majority Owner of Bitzlato, a Cryptocurrency Exchange, Charged with Unlicensed Money Transmitting
People/person anatoly legkodymov.aliases Not recorded Anatolii Legkodymov, Gandalf, Tolik Three official aliases are missing. Founder and Majority Owner of Cryptocurrency Exchange Pleads Guilty to Unlicensed Money Transmitting
People/person anatoly legkodymov.country of residence CN Not recorded Value cleared: not supported by any source located in this pass. Neither cited source states China as his residence. Bitzlato was Hong Kong-registered and DOJ called it 'China-based', but that is the company. The cited EDNY release places Legkodymov himself in Miami in 2022-2023. Founder and Majority Owner of Bitzlato, a Cryptocurrency Exchange, Charged with Unlicensed Money Transmitting
What happened afterward Anatoly Legkodymov pleaded guilty on 2023-12-06 to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and agreed to dissolve Bitzlato and relinquish claims to approximately USD 23 million in seized assets. No later official sentencing release was located in this pass. Anatoly Legkodymov pleaded guilty on 2023-12-06 to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and agreed to dissolve Bitzlato and relinquish claims to approximately USD 23 million in seized assets. He was sentenced on 2024-07-18 to time served plus two years of supervised release (judgment entered 2024-07-30, EDNY 1:23-cr-00496). In 2025 the United States filed an extradition complaint on behalf of France seeking his surrender (W.D. Pa. 2:25-mc-00123), and the court issued an opinion and certification of extraditability. Sentence recovered from the EDNY docket via the CourtListener RECAP search API. The extradition proceeding is docketed as 'EXTRADITION OF ANATOLII LEGKODYMOV', W.D. Pa. 2:25-mc-00123, whose entry 26 reads 'OPINION AND CERTIFICATION re 2 COMPLAINT for Extradition filed by UNITED STATES OF AMERICA on behalf of the Government of France, which seeks to extradite Anatolii Legkodymov to France.'. United States v. LEGKODYMOV
Legal cases/case us v bitzlato legkodymov.status Guilty plea entered 2023-12-06; no later official sentencing release located in this audit Pleaded guilty 2023-12-06; sentenced 2024-07-18 to time served plus two years supervised release; judgment entered 2024-07-30; case closed The case did not stall at the plea. Docket 1:23-cr-00496 (E.D.N.Y., Judge Eric N. Vitaliano) and magistrate 1:23-mj-00017 both match the record's '23-CR-496 (ENV)' and '23-MJ-17'. United States v. LEGKODYMOV
Name Bitzlato / Operation Cryptostorm Bitzlato takedown Value cleared: not supported by any source located in this pass. Neither DOJ release nor the Europol release uses an operation name, and Europol's own structured 'operations' tag for this article is 'Other' rather than a named operation. 'Cryptostorm' appears only in secondary commentary. Retained only if an official source can be produced. Bitzlato: senior management arrested
Geographic scope Not recorded US, FR, ES, PT, CY, BE, NL, HK The field is absent from the record. HK is included because DOJ describes Bitzlato as 'a Hong Kong-registered cryptocurrency exchange'; drop it if scope means enforcement jurisdictions only. Bitzlato: senior management arrested
Person actions/pa legkodymov plea.charges Not recorded Operating an unlicensed money transmitting business that transported and transmitted illicit funds Charges empty; court_name null and should be the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Plea date and case number are confirmed exactly. Founder and Majority Owner of Cryptocurrency Exchange Pleads Guilty to Unlicensed Money Transmitting
People/person anatoly legkodymov.notes Founder of Bitzlato., Arrested in Miami; later pleaded guilty. Founder of Bitzlato., Arrested in Miami; later pleaded guilty., Released from Bureau of Prisons custody (MDC Brooklyn) on 2024-07-19, BOP register 40111-510., A U.S. extradition complaint on behalf of France was filed in the Western District of Pennsylvania on 2025-02-10 (2:25-mc-00123); the magistrate judge issued an opinion and certification of extraditability on 2025-09-23. Nothing after the December 2023 plea is recorded. BOP shows his U.S. custody ended 2024-07-19 and a French extradition proceeding has since been certified. Microsoft Corporation v. Does, No. 2:11-cv-00222 (W.D. Wash.) docket record
Infrastructure items/infra bitzlato servers.action seized disabled Neither official source says the French servers were seized. Europol says the digital infrastructure was 'taken down'; DOJ says French authorities 'dismantled Bitzlato's digital infrastructure'. Asset seizures in this operation are described separately (crypto wallets, vehicles, equipment). Bitzlato: senior management arrested
Sources/src doj bitzlato 2023.title Bitzlato dismantled; founder Anatoly Legkodymov charged Founder and Majority Owner of Bitzlato, a Cryptocurrency Exchange, Charged with Unlicensed Money Transmitting Recorded title is an invented paraphrase describing what the source supposedly shows; the real page headline differs. Founder and Majority Owner of Bitzlato, a Cryptocurrency Exchange, Charged with Unlicensed Money Transmitting

The value that was there before is kept so the change can be checked. See these corrections in the full log.

Numbered markers throughout this entry link to the source that supports the claim beside them.

What each part of this entry rests on

The audit recorded which sources carry which part of the record. These are those sources.

Official sources

  1. [1]
    Founder and Majority Owner of Bitzlato, a Cryptocurrency Exchange, Charged with Unlicensed Money Transmitting

    US DOJ / USAO EDNY / FBI, January 18, 2023, Source grade P1

    Establishes the French-led dismantlement of Bitzlato infrastructure and the charge/arrest of founder Anatoly Legkodymov.

    Open source
  2. [2]
    FinCEN Identifies Virtual Currency Exchange Bitzlato as a “Primary Money Laundering Concern” in Connection with Russian Illicit Finance

    Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), U.S. Department of the Treasury, January 18, 2023, Source grade P1

    FinCEN's supporting role in the Bitzlato action: on 18 January 2023 FinCEN issued a section 9714(a) order identifying the virtual currency exchange Bitzlato as a primary money laundering concern in connection with Russian illicit finance.

    Open source
  3. [3]
    Bitzlato: senior management arrested

    Europol, January 23, 2023, Source grade P2

    Bitzlato: the French- and US-led operation supported by Europol, the platform infrastructure shut down in France, the arrests in Cyprus, Spain and the United States, and the scale figures for criminal assets exchanged

    Open source
  4. [4]
    United States v. LEGKODYMOV

    United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, December 1, 2023, Source grade P0

    Bitzlato: the criminal case against Anatoly Legkodymov, docket 1:23-cr-00496 in the Eastern District of New York, filed 1 December 2023 and terminated 30 July 2024, covering his July 2024 sentencing to time served

    Open source
  5. [5]
    Founder and Majority Owner of Cryptocurrency Exchange Pleads Guilty to Unlicensed Money Transmitting

    United States Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York, December 6, 2023, Source grade P1

    Legkodymov guilty plea, forfeiture and docket 23-CR-496 (ENV)

    Open source
  6. [6]
    Microsoft Corporation v. Does, No. 2:11-cv-00222 (W.D. Wash.) docket record

    CourtListener RECAP, Source grade P0

    Supporting detail not recorded.

    Open source