One of Crypto Capital’s executives has recently been indicted by a New York court. Specifically, it is the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York that has indicted one of Crypto Capital’s top executives on counts of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and operate an unlicensed money transmitting business.
Crypto Capital’s legal issues intensify
This news was first shared on October 23rd in an official court filing. This document shows that one of Crypto Capital’s executives, Oz Yosef, has been indicted by US authorities on several financial conspiracy-related counts.
Moreover, this seems to confirm recent allegations made by the crypto exchange Bitfinex, suggesting that it had been a victim of Crypto Capital-led fraud. Crypto Capital had previously been the payments processor for Bitfinex.
This relates to how the New York Attorney General’s office has previously suggested that Bitfinex lost around $850 million and then took fund from Tether – its affiliated stablecoin operator – in order to cover the missing funds.
However, Bitfinex then went on to claim that Crypto Capital had spread the company’s funds across several different bank accounts in multiple countries. As such, Crypto Capital seemingly made it difficult to access these funds.
Bitfinex further details that Crypto Capital had processed funds on Bitfinex’s behalf for several years. Furthermore, the firm also says that it was relying upon its representation by Crypto Capital. This included those by Oz Yosef, which it then became evident had been misleading. Bitfinex put it like this:
“Among those misrepresentations, Crypto Capital regularly referred to its integrity, banking expertise, robust compliance programme and financial licences. This was designed to assure us that Crypto Capital was capable of handling Bitfinex’s transactions.”
Crypto Capital’s president has also been arrested
Bitfinex has said that any claims that Crypto Capital laundered illicit funds at the request of Bitfinex are “categorically false”. This also comes as Crypto Capital is also facing legal difficulties on an international level.
In fact, the president of Crypto Capital – Ivan Manuel Molina Lee – has been arrested by Polish authorities, on October 24th. He was similarly arrested on suspicions of financial crime – money laundering – and being involved in an “international drug cartel”.
As such, Lee has been detained on a so-called European Arrest Warrant, issued the the Wroclaw prosecutor’s office. Furthermore, Lee’s arrest is said to be linked to approximately $350 million seized by the Polish Ministry of Justice,
Rasmus Pihl is a writer for Toshi Times by day and an avid follower of the blockchain industry by night. Rasmus holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from the Gothenburg School of Business, Economics, and Law and runs a Swedish marketing consulting firm. Moreover, when he isn’t writing for Toshi Times, traveling, working or changing the world in some other capacity, Rasmus is more than likely caught up in postgraduate studies.
