![\"The](\"https:\/\/ichef-1.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/07B0\/production\/_100286910_crypto_currency_girls.jpg\")
<\/span><\/figure>\nBut a group of amateur investigators, WizSec, found that hackers had targeted Mt Gox.<\/p>\n
They had systematically pilfered users’ accounts, hiding their tracks from Mt Gox operators for years.<\/p>\n
And in 2014, the site’s chief executive, Mark Karpeles, made the horrifying discovery that hundreds of thousands of coins were missing.<\/p>\n
When customers found themselves unable to withdraw funds, the site collapsed.<\/p>\n
Speaking for the first time about the collapse to\u00a0BBC Radio 4’s File on Fourprogramme, Mr Karpeles said: “It felt like\u2026 when you fall from a building and you see the ground getting closer, and you feel like you are about to die.”<\/p>\n
He said the site had rapidly grown beyond his expectations.<\/p>\n
“Mt Gox went from interesting project to being, I would say, a daily nightmare of dealing with banks, governments, people I never knew existed.”<\/p>\n
How the coins had gone missing was initially a mystery.<\/p>\n
But now investigators say almost half the stolen coins from Mt Gox ended up at rival exchange BTC-e.<\/p>\n
‘Cyber-crime hub’<\/strong><\/p>\n The FBI says BTC-e was a hub for cyber-crime and helped to launder money from hacks, including ransomware attacks of the kind that hit the NHS and other organisations last year.<\/p>\n But trying to find out who operates BTC-e isn’t easy. The exchange claimed to be operated by a British company called Always Efficient LLP.<\/p>\n Always Efficient’s registered office is in east London, but the address is shared by several other firms, some of which are thought to be involved in money laundering.<\/p>\n Duncan Hames, of anti-corruption group Transparency International, said it’s likely to be a shell company.<\/p>\n “People laundering money will set up a network of companies to create layers between the original crime and their attempts to then integrate the proceeds of their crime into the economy,” he said.<\/p>\n “They simply enable a series of transactions to take place to create this distance and to obscure the trail of the proceeds of crime.”<\/p>\n In an attempt to regulate these so-called shell companies, new rules introduced in June 2016 now stipulate that companies must publish a list of “persons with significant control” (PWSC).<\/p>\n Always Efficient doesn’t currently have a PWSC. The person most recently listed, Alexander Buyanov, is a DJ in a Moscow nightclub.<\/p>\n According to Andrei Zakharov, a Russian journalist who tracked him down, Mr Buyanov claims he “knew nothing” of the business.<\/p>\n Companies House told the BBC it had a dedicated team dealing with PWSCs, and took action when irregularities were identified.<\/p>\n ‘Real risk’ to UK<\/strong><\/p>\n The FBI says the man behind BTC-e is another Russian national, Alexander Vinnik.<\/p>\n Documents seen by the BBC detail how the stolen Mt Gox money was laundered through various accounts, usernames and email addresses allegedly controlled by Mr Vinnik.<\/p>\n Mr Vinnik was arrested while on holiday in Greece in July 2017, and is currently being detained in Thessaloniki.<\/p>\n The US Department of Justice now wants to extradite him to face 21 counts of money laundering and other financial crimes in the US.<\/p>\n Mr Zakharov said: “They were on the beach and his wife was swimming, and when she turned back she saw a lot of people with sunglasses near her husband, and that’s how he was arrested.”<\/p>\n Russia has also filed an extradition request for Mr Vinnik on lesser, unrelated charges.<\/p>\n The Greek government is now in the process of deciding between the two requests.<\/p>\n Via his lawyer, Mr Vinnick told the BBC he denies having any connection to Always Efficient.<\/p>\n He added: “BTC-e is just a web platform for buying and selling Bitcoin – not an exchange. As such it cannot be held responsible for the source of money used to buy Bitcoin, no more than a bureau du change can be held responsible for exchanging a stolen $100 note into pounds sterling.”<\/p>\n A National Crime Agency (NCA) spokesman said it didn’t “routinely confirm or deny investigations” but recognised “the very real risks to the UK and the UK’s financial sector from large-scale, complex money laundering.”<\/p>\n He added: “Tackling money laundering is a high priority for the NCA, and we have a number of national and international operations running against the criminals involved, working in close partnership with partners in law enforcement and financial regulation.”<\/p>\n Mark Karpeles was arrested and charged with embezzlement related to payments worth \u00a31.7m. He says these were legitimate loans signed off by an accountant.<\/p>\n He’s also charged with manipulation of data. He denies all the charges – none of which relates to the loss of the 650,000 bitcoins.<\/p>\n He told the BBC he was doing all he could to return funds to customers and added: “I am very sorry that when I was in charge things happened the way they did.”<\/p>\n ‘Unprecedented’ rise<\/strong><\/p>\n Mt Gox is not the only Bitcoin currency exchange to be hacked. Even the Virtual Currency Girls have lost money following another recent Bitcoin exchange theft.<\/p>\n Under Japanese bankruptcy law, the remaining 200,000 Mt Gox bitcoins are valued at \u00a3300 each, the price they held when the exchange collapsed in 2014.<\/p>\n Since then, the value has increased to around \u00a37,000 each.<\/p>\n Many investors are now pushing to see their Mt Gox bitcoins refunded at the current price, and a decision is expected within the next few months.<\/p>\n So regardless of the outcome in Mr Vinnik’s case, Mt Gox creditors who lost out might still turn a profit, thanks to Bitcoin’s unprecedented rise.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A UK company has been linked to the laundering of 650,000 stolen bitcoins worth \u00a34.5bn, a\u00a0BBC Radio 4\u00a0investigation has found. The coins were taken by hackers from Tokyo-based Bitcoin exchange Mt Gox, leaving tens of thousands of customers out of pocket. It’s not clear who is in control of the London-based firm Always Efficient LLP. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":407250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[106],"tags":[9776,798],"yoast_head":"\n![\"French](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/55D0\/production\/_100286912_image1.jpg\")
<\/span><\/figure>\n![\"Bitcoin](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/10013\/production\/_99155556_bitcointotval-nc.png\")
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