US DOJ charges Bulgarian national with stealing $290K in forfeited crypto

The U.S. Department of Justice has indicted Bulgarian national Rosen Iossifov on charges of unlawfully withdrawing and transferring approximately $290,000 in cryptocurrency that had been forfeited to the U.S. government. According to the DOJ, he is accused of attempting to move the funds in January 2024 through various exchanges and mixing services. The cryptocurrency was subject to a forfeiture order from his 2021 conviction for online auction fraud. At the time of the alleged offense, he was already serving a 111-month prison sentence for the 2021 fraud case. If convicted on the new charges, he faces a maximum of 25 years in prison. His previous trial revealed that he had laundered approximately $5 million in cryptocurrency in less than three years, resulting in the forfeiture order for the crypto involved in the current case, as well as a restitution payment of $2.64 million to victims.