US Government Arrests CEO of Romanian BTC Exchange, Extradition Underway

By Prashant Jha

The CEO of a Romanian BTC Exchange called CoinFlux has been arrested by the government of the US on grounds allegedly including money laundering. Vlad Nistor, the CEO of the said exchange is now awaiting extradition. As per reports from his home country’s news outlets like Ziar de Cluj, Nistor was arrested by the US officials on 11th December, while he was at Cluj-Napoca. Since being detained, he has waited in Cluj-Napoca and Bucharest for his extradition, expected to happen over the course of Thursday.

CoinFlux, the Exchange he heads, has not admitted to the news of his arrest on any of their social media pages or blog accounts. Not so long ago, on the 3rd of this month, the exchange had even been running promotions for Nistor’s upcoming appearance in a radio programme in Romania itself. However, since the arrest, there has been a radio silence about Nistor’s position from their end.

Although a confirmed statement from the US Department of Justice is yet to be reported by any of the concerned media houses, it seems that Nistor is facing charges on multiple counts that include computer fraud, money laundering amounting to racketeering and general fraud.

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The CoinFlux Exchange is a relatively new player in the market and in its three years of operation, has not enjoyed any great degree of prominence. They usually work with markets having trading volumes as low as $10000 and cannot be said to have been on the anvil of any widespread popularity.

Although he has been running a small exchange so far, Nistor’s position in the Romanian finance industry should not be undermined. As the son of a co-founder of major Romanian finance player Banca Transilvania, he does exercise a certain degree of personal clout in the sector. While little information seems to be forthcoming from official quarters at the moment, all eyes are trained on how the US Government handles the extradition of a foreign citizen in connection to the crypto world.

Note:

The news is in context with the latest development, any further updates would be incorporated soon.