- Russia’s Supreme Court ended WEX’s compensation case, blocking client recovery of lost assets.
- Alexey Ivanov-Bilyuchenko’s conviction stands, but his civil financial penalties were completely revoked.
- U.S. charges over the Mt. Gox hack remain unresolved, leaving cross-border accountability uncertain.
The 18 billion rubles ($221.1 million) fine against the BTC-e and Wex co-founder Alexey Ivanov-Bilyuchenko was canceled by the Russian Supreme Court. The ruling overturned the civil action of World Exchange Services Pte. Ltd., the Singapore-based owner of WEX. The case involved seeking compensation to clients on the losses incurred by the collapse of the exchange. This decision overturns three decisions of lower courts and eliminates one of the legal avenues of reclaiming funds.
Legal Recourse for WEX Clients Ends
The court canceled the previous rulings of the Savelovsky District Court, Moscow City Court, and the Second Cassation Court. It also validated the compensation case against Ivanov-Bilyuchenko. According to investigators, he shut the system to the owner of WEX, employees, and the rest using the platform in 2018. After that, he stole digital properties worth more than 18 billion rubles. The Meshchansky Court of Moscow later convicted him of large-scale embezzlement under Part 4 of Article 160 of the Russian Criminal Code.
Ivanov-Bilyuchenko joined forces with the government using a pre-trial deal. The court sentenced him to 3.5 years in a general regime penal colony and fined him 500,000 rubles ($6,142). The Moscow City Court upheld the ruling.
The WEX customers have now lost one of the remaining legal avenues with the new ruling by the Supreme Court. The majority of the platform assets had been transferred, blended, or confiscated by other persons. In the absence of ownership or restitution strategies, users do not have a feasible method of reclaiming their lost money.
U.S. Indictment Remains Unresolved
Ivanov-Bilyuchenko remains charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with money laundering of 647,000 Bitcoins stolen in the 2014 hack at Mt. Gox. Reports say that he and his associate Aleksandr Verner carried out one of the biggest crypto thefts in history.
Extradition and trial have not yet been undertaken despite the indictment. The case in the U.S. is open but dormant.
According to the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel that monitors the actions of the Russian law enforcement, a wallet tied on the individual lost 6,500 Bitcoins valued at approximately $694 million. Cases of the BTC-e and the Wex are still revealing large-scale losses, pending indictments, and a sense of justice still missing in the former clients.
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