Rossen Iossifov, Conspiracy to Commit Racketeering, Kentucky 2023

Related Federal Cases

Three Kentucky men, Scheme Facilitated North Korea Sanctions Evasio… · North Carolina
John Doe, Medicaid Fraud Scheme, Charlotte NC, 2023 · Kentucky
Tyler Barriss, Online Stalking, Orange County CA, 2022 · California
Fairview Park Man Charged in Threats Against Trump · Texas
Winchester Man Admits Hacking Site to Threaten Teens · Pennsylvania

Table of Contents

Bitcoin Exchange Owner Guilty of Laundering Millions in Cyber Fraud Scheme

A Bulgarian national has been found guilty of his role in a transnational and multi-million dollar scheme to defraud American victims through online auction fraud. Rossen Iossifov, 53, formerly of Bulgaria, was convicted by a federal jury in Frankfort, Kentucky of one count of conspiracy to commit racketeering and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Iossifov and his co-conspirators participated in a criminal conspiracy that engaged in a large-scale scheme of online auction fraud that victimized at least 900 Americans. Specifically, Romania-based members of the conspiracy posted false advertisements to popular online auction and sales websites—such as Craigslist and eBay—for high-cost goods (typically vehicles) that did not actually exist.

Members of the conspiracy would convince American victims to send money for the advertised goods by crafting persuasive narratives, for example, by impersonating a military member who needed to sell the advertised item before deployment. Once victims were convinced to send payment, the conspiracy participants engaged in a complicated money laundering scheme wherein domestic associates would accept victim funds, convert these funds to cryptocurrency, and transfer proceeds in the form of cryptocurrency to foreign-based money launderers.

Iossifov was the owner of RG Coins, a Bulgaria-based Bitcoin exchange. From at least September 2015 to at least December 2018, he exchanged cryptocurrency into local fiat currency on behalf of the Romania-based members of the conspiracy, knowing that the Bitcoin represented the proceeds of illegal activity. According to trial testimony, for example, in just the span of about two and a half years, Iossifov exchanged over $4.9 million worth of Bitcoin for just four other members of the criminal enterprise.

Seventeen total defendants have been convicted in this case. Three others are fugitives. The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Secret Service, Kentucky State Police, Lexington Police Department, IRS Criminal Investigation, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and supported by the Justice Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and the International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center (IOC-2).

Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbitt of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Robert M. Duncan Jr. of the Eastern District of Kentucky, Assistant Director Michael D’Ambrosio of U.S. Secret Service’s Office of Investigations and Kentucky State Police Commissioner Rodney Brewer made the announcement. Sentencing has been set for Jan. 12, 2021.