Two Estonian citizens arrested in $575 mln cryptocurrency fraud, money maundering scheme

Two Estonian citizens were arrested in Tallinn, Estonia, on an 18-count indictment for their alleged involvement in a $575 million cryptocurrency fraud and money laundering conspiracy, the U.S. Justice Department said on Monday.

Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turõgin, both 37, allegedly defrauded hundreds of thousands of victims through a multi-faceted scheme wherein they induced them to enter fraudulent equipment rental contracts with the defendants’ cryptocurrency mining service, the department said in a statement. The indictment was returned by a grand jury in the Western District of Washington on Oct. 27 and unsealed on Monday.