The US Department of Justice has filed new charges against 53-year-old Rossen Iossifov, accusing him of plotting to move about $290,000 in seized cryptocurrency while already in prison. He appeared before a judge in the Eastern District of Kentucky on allegations including concealment of assets to prevent seizure, aiding and abetting, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Prosecutors say that in January 2024, Iossifov directed efforts to withdraw and transfer the crypto through multiple exchanges and mixing services in an attempt to get around a court-ordered forfeiture. A mixing service is designed to obscure the source and destination of crypto transfers by pooling funds from different users, making blockchain tracing much harder.
Prosecutors frame the transfers as a challenge to court orders
Deputy Assistant Attorney General A Tysen Duva of the DOJ Criminal Division said courts will bring new charges against defendants who interfere with or ignore lawful judicial orders issued in earlier cases. The US Secret Service also took part in the investigation. Authorities described the alleged transfers as a direct challenge to the court’s order and to the interests of the fraud victims tied to the original case.
Iossifov was previously the owner and operator of the Sofia-based crypto exchange RG Coins. In 2021, he was convicted in the US after a large fraud and money laundering investigation.
Earlier case involved fake listings and at least 900 victims
According to prosecutors, a Romania-linked fraud ring posted fake listings for vehicles and other high-value goods on platforms including eBay and Craigslist, deceiving at least 900 Americans. Payments from victims were then routed through a foreign laundering network, with Iossifov allegedly handling the final step by converting illicit crypto proceeds into cash.
Trial evidence showed that Rossen Iossifov helped launder about $5 million in cryptocurrency in less than three years. Earlier court rulings also required him to pay more than $2.6 million in restitution and ordered the forfeiture of the same crypto assets now at the center of the latest case. Prosecutors say the newly alleged transfers happened while he was serving his current 111-month sentence.
Latest case could add up to 25 years
If convicted on the new charges, Iossifov could receive as much as 25 additional years in prison on top of his current term. The DOJ cybercrime unit also said that since 2020, it has secured more than 180 convictions in cybercrime and intellectual property cases and returned over $350 million to victims.