DOJ charges federal inmate over alleged theft of $290,000 in crypto forfeited to US government

The U.S. Department of Justice is accusing a convicted fraudster and federal inmate of orchestrating the unauthorized removal of about $290,000 in cryptocurrency that had already been seized and forfeited to the U.S. government, marking a new criminal case tied to assets from his earlier conviction.

Rossen G. Iossifov, a 53-year-old Bulgarian national, appeared in federal court in the Eastern District of Kentucky earlier this week on charges of removal of property to prevent seizure, aiding and abetting, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, the DOJ said in a statement on Thursday. 

According to the statement, Iossifov allegedly conspired to transfer the crypto in January 2024, nearly three years after his 2021 conviction in the Eastern District of Kentucky. 

The DOJ said he transferred the assets through multiple cryptocurrency exchanges and illicit mixing services while serving a 111-month federal prison sentence, allegedly to prevent the U.S. government from taking possession of the funds.

Prosecutors said Iossifov’s 2021 conviction followed his participation in an online auction fraud scheme that laundered nearly $5 million in cryptocurrency over a period of less than three years. That case resulted in a court order to pay $2,642,297.43 in victim restitution alongside the asset forfeiture.

“Having been convicted of a widespread online auction fraud scheme targeting U.S. victims, Iossifov is now charged with moving cryptocurrency that he obtained from that crime, in violation of a court’s forfeiture order,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said.

If convicted of the new charges, Iossifov faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison, per the statement.