PANews reported on August 17 that according to Cointelegraph, Roman Sterlingov, the founder of cryptocurrency mixer Bitcoin Fog, opposed being sentenced to a "long" prison sentence after being convicted of money laundering. In a document submitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on August 15, Sterlingov's legal team did not appear to make a specific sentencing recommendation for the prosecutor's request that he serve 20 to 30 years in prison, claiming that the government's recommendation was "unfounded" based on sentencing in similar cases.
Earlier news, according to Bloomberg, a jury in the Washington federal court ruled that Roman Sterlingov, the main operator of the Bitcoin mixer Bitcoin Fog, was convicted of four charges including money laundering. Sterlingov was first charged with money laundering and operating an illegal remittance service in 2021. The government said that hundreds of millions of dollars went into Bitcoin Fog, of which $78 million came from darknet markets known for trafficking illegal drugs. Sterlingov denied that he operated Bitcoin Fog. His lawyer also said there was no evidence that Sterlingov operated Bitcoin Fog. He faces up to 20 years in prison.
