Google today agreed to improve its legal compliance program after losing data related to BTC-e, a criminal crypto exchange investigated and shut down by the FBI for alleged money laundering in 2017.
The tech giant will “ensure timely and complete responses to legal process such as subpoenas and search warrants,” going forwards, according to a news release from the Department of Justice on Wednesday.
The department served a search warrant on Google in 2016, demanding the company turn over data the company held concerning BTC-e.
You Can Now Google the Balances of Ethereum Addresses
Google is now providing data on Ethereum addresses via its search engine. The world’s biggest website now tells you how much ETH some wallets hold when you punch an Etheruem address into the search bar. The new feature works via block explorer Etherscan, a website that provides data on the Ethereum blockchain. Crypto investor at Google Ventures Han Hua tweeted about the feature Tuesday. But when Decrypt tried it with several addresses, some worked and others didn’t, which could mean that Googl...
However, Google leaned on a standing legal precedent that limited such requests to data stored on American soil. Due to Google’s optimization algorithms, which moved data around the world, the company couldn’t clearly define which information it was required to forfeit.
Congress eventually intervened by passing the CLOUD act, which required all related data in cases like Google’s be handed over, regardless of where it was stored. Google even signed a letter in 2018 praising the act’s passage for clarifying the firm’s obligations. However, the data originally sought by the Justice Department had already been lost.
Today, the firm said it is taking numerous measures to ensure such legal complications never happen again.
“In the filed stipulation, Google represented to the court that it spent over $90 million on additional resources, systems, and staffing to implement legal process compliance program improvements,” said the DOJ.
BTC-e operated in the United States from 2011 to 2017, handling an estimated $9 billion in Bitcoin transactions during that time. According to the Justice Department, its operators allowed users—many of which were criminals—to trade Bitcoin anonymously and launder money.
New Zealand police freeze $90 million linked to defunct BTC-e exchange
An asset recovery unit of New Zealand’s police has frozen $140 million New Zealand dollars (just over $90.3 million) belonging to Canton Business Corporation and its owner Alexander Vinnik, who was allegedly the operator of now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e, according to an official announcement. It’s reportedly “the largest restraint of funds” in the country’s history. “New Zealand Police has worked closely with the Internal Revenue Service of the United States to address this very ser...
BTC-e cofounder Alexei Bilyuchenko went on to establish another exchange called WEX, which subsequently failed in 2018. In 2020, New Zealand Police froze $90 million in funds connected to Bilyuchenko’s partner, Alexander Vinnik. The police accused him of personally laundering roughly $4 billion worth of Bitcoin, and had “no anti-money laundering controls and policies,” in place at BTC-e.
Two months ago, the Department announced that Vinnik had been extradited from Greece to the United States.
