New Zealand police have withheld millions of dollars in bank funds from a Russian computer specialist, Alexander Vinnik, and his company. The funds were frozen following the BTC -e investigation , in which Vinnik was charged with money laundering for bad actors.

BTC-e investigation freezes $ 140 million

According to Monday's report, about 140 million held in offshore banks have been recovered in New Zealand and frozen by the police. These funds are believed to be owned by Vinnik and its New Zealand-registered company known as the   Canton Business Corporation  .

The fund is considered to be the largest amount ever restricted in New Zealand. However, today's development is considered part of the BTC -e survey .

BTC -e is a digital exchange office owned by Vinnik, and was operated in the United States. For some time now, Vinnik has been accused of very substantial money laundering for criminal unions through his exchange.

BTC-e processed over $ 4 billion in Bitcoin trading

Andrew Coster, the New Zealand police commissioner, alleged that the exchange of digital currencies was not carried out with   anti-money laundering checks  . For this reason, cybercriminals have referred to the platform to launder ill-gotten funds from activities such as hacking, scams, drug transactions and theft of cryptocurrency.

At one point, the 37-year-old computer specialist posed a high threat to the international banking system through his exchange. Following BTC -e investigations , the digital exchange office processed more than $ 4 billion in Bitcoin ( BTC ) transactions anonymously.

Computer engineering was initially detained in 2017, while on vacation in Greece. He was then extradited to France, while the BTC -e investigations continued. He has since remained in detention in the country. New Zealand police have worked with US officials to resolve the problem, which Coster says is a "very serious offense".