In short
- Rossen Iossifov, a Bulgarian nationwide serving 111 months for laundering almost $5 million, has been charged with conspiring to maneuver $290,000 in cryptocurrency {that a} court docket had ordered forfeited.
- Prosecutors say he ran the transfers by means of a number of exchanges and mixing providers in January 2024, whereas already in federal jail.
- Ought to he be discovered responsible of the brand new costs, Iossifov faces as much as 25 years in jail.
A Bulgarian man already serving time for one of many bigger crypto laundering instances prosecuted within the U.S. has been charged with pulling off one other scheme from inside federal jail, allegedly transferring $290,000 in cryptocurrency {that a} court docket had ordered him to forfeit.
Rossen Iossifov, 53, made his first court docket look within the Jap District of Kentucky this week on costs of eradicating property to stop seizure, aiding and abetting, and conspiracy to commit cash laundering, the Division of Justice stated in a press release. Prosecutors allege that in January 2024 he conspired to withdraw and switch the forfeited crypto by means of a number of exchanges and mixing providers, which pool funds to cover their path, to maintain the cash out of the federal government’s attain.
Defendants who “flout lawfully entered orders” from earlier instances can be charged for that obstruction, stated Assistant Lawyer Common A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Division’s Felony Division. The U.S. Secret Service, which investigated each instances, known as the alleged transfers a “direct problem” to the courts and to his victims.
The RG Cash case
Iossifov owned and ran RG Cash, a cryptocurrency alternate based mostly in Sofia, Bulgaria, and was convicted in 2021 of racketeering and money-laundering conspiracies for his position within the Alexandria On-line Public sale Fraud community. The Romanian ring posted pretend listings for vehicles and different high-value items on websites like eBay and Craigslist, collected funds from no less than 900 American victims, and funneled the proceeds to abroad launderers, with Iossifov changing the crypto to money on the finish of the chain.
Trial proof confirmed he laundered almost $5 million in cryptocurrency in beneath three years. He was ordered to pay greater than $2.6 million in restitution and to forfeit the crypto now on the middle of the brand new case, and was serving a 111-month time period when the alleged transfers passed off.
If convicted on the brand new costs, Iossifov faces as much as 25 years in jail on high of his present sentence. The Justice Division’s pc crime part, which dealt with the prosecution, says it has secured convictions of greater than 180 cyber and intellectual-property criminals since 2020 and court docket orders returning over $350 million to victims.
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