The founder of digital currency system Liberty Reserve has been indicted in the United States along withsix other people in a$6 billion money-laundering scheme, in what authorities are calling the largest international money-laundering case ever prosecuted, according to documents unsealed today.

Dubbed the financial hub of the cyber-crime world, authorities say Liberty Reserve had more than 1 million users worldwide and processed more than 12 million transactions annually as the favored money-laundering service for carders, hackers and other cybercriminals in the digital underground who used it to transfer money around the world effortlessly and anonymously.

According to the indictment (.pdf), Liberty Reserve was used to launder more than $6 billion in criminal proceeds.

Arthur Budovsky, a Costa Rican citizen of Ukrainian origin, and the founder of the currency system, was arrested in Spain last Friday, while others were arrested in Costa Rica and New York. Police in Costa Rica also raided three homes and five businesses linked to Liberty Reserve, according to the Associated Press. The digital currencys site went offline last week, with its front page replaced by a notice saying that the domain had been seized by the United States Global Illicit Financial Team.

Budovskys fellow indictees include Vladimir Kats, Ahmed Yassine Abdelghani, Allan Esteban Hidalgo Jimenez, Azzeddine el Amine, Mark Marmilev and Maxim Chukharev. Authorities say Katz operated Liberty Reserve with Budovsky until the two had a falling-out in 2009.

Liberty Reserve was incorporated in Costa Rica in 2006 and had at least 200,000 customers in the U.S., but failed to register in the U.S. as a money-transmitting service.

Liberty Reserve required only a valid email address to open an account and initiate transactions. It charged a 1 percent fee for each transaction and, for an additional 75 cents, offered to hide a users account number in transactions.

Although the service had legitimate customers, the anonymity it provided attracted a large clientele from the criminal underground who relied on offshore Liberty Reserve currency exchangers to move their ill-gotten cash in and out of the financial system.

Through the defendants efforts, Liberty Reserve has emerged as one of the principal means by which cyber-criminals around the world distribute, store, and launder the proceeds of their illegal activity, authorities said in the indictment.

The service was allegedly favored by cybercriminals and mules who participated in a recent$45 million coordinated bank heist that involved laundering cash that was drained from two Middle Eastern banks via ATMs around the world.

Originally posted here:

Liberty Reserve Founder Indicted on $6 Billion Money-Laundering Charges