US charges prisoner over alleged laundering of seized Kraken crypto

US prosecutors charged Rossen Iossifov over the alleged laundering of $290,000 in forfeited crypto from a Kraken account.

United States prosecutors have charged a man serving a federal prison sentence over the alleged removal and laundering of about $290,000 in crypto assets held in a Kraken account subject to a forfeiture order.

The Department of Justice said on Thursday that Rossen Iossifov, a Bulgarian national, conspired in January 2024 to withdraw and transfer crypto that a federal court had ordered forfeited following his 2021 conviction. Prosecutors allege that the assets were moved through illicit mixing services and crypto exchanges before the US could take possession.

The case shows how attempts to move crypto after a forfeiture order can trigger fresh criminal charges, even after the underlying conviction.