Coin.mx Team Member Jailed for Running Illegal Bitcoin Exchange

There is a new development in the ongoing Coin.mx court case. As most people are well aware, this particular cryptocurrency exchange operated without an official license, which prompted the US government to scrutinize all of its operators. Yuri Lebedev has been sentenced to 16 months in prison for his part in this Bitcoin exchange. It’s an interesting plot twist, to say the very least.

Coin.mx Employee Faces Extended Jail Time

The story of Coin.mx has been going on for quite some time now. Although the company saw initial success, it operated without an official license. At the time, there wasn’t any official Bitcoin regulation in place just yet, but running an illegal Bitcoin exchange has always been frowned upon, for obvious reasons. Moreover, the platform was linked to a major theft of data involving JPMorgan Chase.

There has always been far more to Coin.mx than simply the people running it or the Bitcoin exchange aspect itself. Yuri Lebedev, a software engineer from Florida, has always been a critical part of this ongoing investigation. His role has involved aiding in the operations of Coin.mx to a certain degree, as well as hacking JPMorgan Chase. During that data breach, details of over 83 million customer accounts were successfully exposed.

Ever since that time, the US government has been trying to get its hands on Lebedev and convict him in the process. So far, those efforts had been mostly in vain, yet a major breakthrough occurred last Friday when Lebedev was sentenced to 16 months in prison for his involvement in Coin.mx and the JPMorgan Chase data breach. It is evident Lebedev has a lot to answer for, even though his lawyer isn’t too pleased with the verdict.

Indeed, attorney Eric Creizman says he is “disappointed and dismayed” by this sentencing. Considering the federal sentencing guidelines call for up to 97 months, a 16-month jail sentence isn’t the worst possible outcome by any means. The software engineer wasn’t the only person of interest in this case, though, as Trevon Gross was convicted in March of this year as well.

According to the prosecution, Lebedev bribed Gross, a pastor, through church donations and other means. In exchange, Gross allowed the head honcho of Coin.mx to take over a small credit union. Another operator, Anthony Murgio, has already received a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence, whereas Gross will be sentenced later this month. It seems things are finally coming to a close as far as Coin.mx is concerned, which can only be considered a good thing.

All things considered, things are advancing nicely for the prosecution in this case, although the fight is far from over. More specifically, prosecutors still want to see Gary Shalon put behind bars as well. He continues to plead not guilty to criminal charges, which makes this process a lot more difficult. This is not the last we will hear about Coin.mx or the people involved with this exchange and the associated data breach.