Bitcoin Fog operator convicted of laundering $400M in bitcoins on darknet

A US federal jury has convicted a dual Russian-Swedish national, Roman Sterlingov, for operating Bitcoin Fog, "the longest-running bitcoin money laundering service on the darknet," the Department of Justice announced yesterday.

Sterlingov ran Bitcoin Fog from 2011 to 2021, moving over 1.2 million bitcoin (approximately $400 million) before he was arrested, the DOJ said. In the press release, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said that the DOJ was "relentless" in efforts to "painstakingly" trace bitcoin "through the blockchain to hold Sterlingov and his Bitcoin Fog enterprise to account."

“Roman Sterlingov thought he could use the shadows of the Internet to launder hundreds of millions of dollars in bitcoin without getting caught," Monaco said. "But he was wrong.” Sterlingov faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison each for counts of money laundering conspiracy and sting money laundering. He was also convicted of "operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and money transmission without a license in the District of Columbia, which each carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison," the DOJ said. Sentencing is scheduled for July.