Michael Murgio, the father of one of Coin.mx operators, Anthony R. Murgio, is accused of fraud, bribery and concealment of funds gained by his son through the activity of the exchange.

According to an indictment released on 22 April, Michael Murgio, a 65-year-old local school board member, faces multiple charges. In particular, he is accused of bribing pastor Trevon Gross, the former chairman of a credit union in New Jersey, and of trying to conceal the profits of the illegal bitcoin marketplace Coin.mx operated by this son Anthony.

The legal process against the bitcoin exchange began in July 2015, after the arrest of two operators of Coin.mx, Yuri Lebedev and Anthony R. Murgio. Besides unlicensed conversion of fiat currency to the digital one, the exchange operators were connected with bitcoin ransomware team Cryptowall. Lebedev and Murgio reportedly operated the exchange through a fraudulent front-company “Collectables Club” that pretended to be an association of individuals trading collectable items, and a federal credit union de facto acquired by Murgio. The former chairman of the union, 46-year-old pastor Trevon Gross, reportedly helped the criminals to launder the money. He is accused of receiving $150,000 in bribes. In his capacity, Gross allowed the money launders Anthony Murgio and Yuri Lebedev to take over control of the organisation to run banking operations for Coin.mx. The overall turnover of the scheme equals millions of dollars in bitcoin equivalent.

Later, in November 2015, it was revealed that Coin.mx exchange was a part of a powerful cybercrime network. According to FBI, the unlicensed bitcoin exchange was under the control of one Gery Schanon, who is accused of orchestrating a massive hacking scheme. The hackers stole personal data of more than 100 million people. Among all, they successfully broke into the database of J.P. Morgan bank and got access to about 83 million customer profiles. They allegedly sold the data back to some owners for a ransom in bitcoins. Coin.mx enabled laundering of all of the money gained through the cybercrime network’s activity. The network organised hacks and cyberattacks, operated illegal online pharmacies and casinos and sold fake and malicious anti-virus software.

All defendants of the case are indicted.

Anna Lavinskaya