Spanish police have detained Bitzlato’s chief executive, marketing director, and sales executive, Turkish reports found on Thursday.
Turkish news agency Anadolu reported that Spanish authorities arrested six Russian and Ukrainian citizens linked to the cryptocurrency platform. French, Cypriot, Portuguese, and United States law enforcement agencies coordinated the arrests.
The news comes after US authorities alleged that Bitzlato had facilitated criminal financial exchanges and had ties to the Hydra darkweb.
Police also seized roughly 19.8 million USD in assets, including cash, vehicles, smartphones, and digital assets. It also blocked more than 100 accounts on the exchange platform.
Bitzlato’s co-founder, Anatoly Legkodymov, was arrested in Miami in what it called a “major international cryptocurrency enforcement action” in mid-January.
US and French authorities added that the crypto exchange was a “primary money laundering concern” with alleged ties to money laundering.
The US Department of Justice (DoJ), US Treasury Department, and other French authorities accused Bitzlato of “conducting a money transmitting business that transported and transmitted illicit funds and that failed to meet U.S. regulatory safeguards.”
The organisations also launched enforcement action against the cryptocurrency platform. The DoJ stated that Bitzlato helped cybercriminals launder more than $700 million USD on the platform.
