The US Department of Justice filed new charges against Bulgarian citizen Rossen Iossifov, who is currently serving a 111-month prison sentence. According to prosecutors, Iossifov hatched a plan to keep approximately $290,000 worth of cryptocurrency, which the court ordered to be seized, out of reach while he was in federal prison.
Transfers at the beginning of 2024 are at the center of new accusations
The Department of Justice announced that 53-year-old Iossifov appeared before a judge in the Eastern District of Kentucky. The file includes accusations of smuggling goods to prevent confiscation, aiding a crime and conspiracy to launder money. According to the indictment, in January 2024, Iossifov acted to withdraw and transfer the crypto assets in question across multiple exchanges and mixing services.
Mini dictionary: Mixing service is the name given to tools that try to hide the source and destination of cryptocurrency transfers. These systems combine assets from different users into a pool, making it difficult to trace on-chain.
Assistant Attorney General A Tysen Duva from the Criminal Division of the US Department of Justice stated that new charges related to this obstruction will be filed against defendants who did not comply with legal court orders given in previous cases.
The US Secret Service was also among the agencies conducting the investigation. The institution viewed the alleged transfers as a direct challenge to court orders and the victims.
Iossifov was previously convicted in a major cryptocurrency laundering case
Iossifov was the owner and manager of RG Coins, a cryptocurrency exchange based in Sofia, Bulgaria. RG Coins operated as a platform that intermediated the buying and selling of digital assets. Iossifov was convicted in a wide-ranging fraud and money laundering investigation in the United States in 2021.
A fraud network with ties to Romania posted fake ads for cars and other high-value items on platforms such as eBay and Craigslist, according to prosecutors. Payments collected from at least 900 US victims were transferred to a laundering chain abroad. The prosecution states that Iossifov was the person who converted the cryptocurrency into cash in the last link of this chain.
Evidence presented during the trial revealed that Rossen Iossifov played a role in the laundering of approximately $5 million worth of cryptocurrency in less than three years.
In case of new conviction, the sentence may be extended further
The court had previously ordered Iossifov to pay more than $2.6 million in damages and confiscate the crypto assets at the center of the new case. Prosecutors allege the controversial transfers took place while Iossifov was serving his current 111-month sentence.
If convicted of the charges in the new case, Iossifov could face up to 25 years in prison in addition to his current prison sentence. The computer crimes unit of the Ministry of Justice announced that convictions have been made in more than 180 cybercrime and intellectual property cases since 2020, and more than 350 million dollars in restitution have been provided to the victims.
