Polish police have arrested a Russian citizen linked to the now-collapsed WEX exchange for alleged fraud and money laundering. US authorities requested his extradition for his cryptocurrency-related crimes and are currently awaiting the completion of the extradition process.
WEX ‘crypto king’ detained in Poland
On Friday, local media reported that Polish authorities had arrested a 37-year-old Russian citizen in Warsaw. Due to Polish laws, media reports called the suspect “Dmitry V.” but it apparently refers to the former CEO of crypto exchange WEX, Belarus-born Dmitry Vasiliev.
Vasiliev was arrested by the “Shadowhunters”, an elite unit of the Central Bureau of Police Investigation (CBŚP), in an apartment in the Wola district, CBŚP spokesman Krzysztof Wrześniowski revealed.
Wrześniowski noted that the arrest was based on a warrant issued by the Warsaw District Prosecutor’s Office, which acted in response to an extradition request from the US Department of Justice. “Dmitry V. is suspected of numerous frauds, money transfers and money laundering in connection with the management of one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world,” he added.
It is worth noting that Vasiliev was arrested in Poland in August 2021. The fugitive was detained at Warsaw Chopin Airport at the request of Kazakhstan, seeking his extradition for cryptocurrency-related crimes. However, he was released after a few weeks in custody and returned to Russia.
Polish authorities expressed bewilderment at how Vasiliev re-entered the country and remained undetected for so long, suggesting he likely lived quietly to evade the law.
Now, the wanted “crypto king” faces a new extradition request from the US to be prosecuted for his alleged crimes. If successfully extradited, Vasiliev could face up to 20 years in prison, Wrześniowski said.
The man is detained, waiting for the entire procedure related to his extradition to the United States to be completed.
The $450 million WEX collapse
As several media outlets have reported, Vasiliev allegedly ran World Exchange Services (WEX) until its collapse in 2018. The exchange was born to “fill the void” of the defunct BTC-e crypto exchange, which closed due to an FBI investigation by international money laundering and concealment of funds stolen from Mt. Gox.
As reported For the BBC in 2019, despite Vasiliev being the figurehead, WEX was directed “from the shadows” by Alexey Bilyuchenko. Bilyuchenko was a partner of Alexander Vinnik at the defunct BTC-e exchange.
After the collapse of BTC-e, he funded WEX with the help of millionaire Konstantin Malofeyev. The exchange collapsed the following year when $450 million in customer funds disappeared. According to the BBC, Bilyuchenko stated that he had lost control of the exchange in the spring of 2018 after being “deceived” by fake security service agents.
The suspect claimed that he was “suggested” to send the funds to a wallet controlled by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in a meeting with Malofeyev and the “agents.” He alleged that Malofeyev’s associates defrauded him.
However, the Moscow millionaire, who has “strong ties” to the Kremlin, denies the accusations. Bilyuchenko initially evaded US arrest over the BTC-e case, but was reportedly arrested by Russian authorities over the WEX collapse in 2022. In 2023, he was loaded by US authorities for his role in the BTC-e exchange and the Mt. Gox hack.
Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $97,831 in the one-week chart. Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView
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