November 10, 2020 | AtoZ Markets – A US court sentenced an ex-Microsoft programmer Vladimir Kvashuk to prison for theft, money laundering, and bitcoin tax fraud. The damage from his scheme exceeded $10 million, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.
Former Microsoft engineer Vladimir Kvashuk jailed for Bitcoin fraud
The 26-year old Ukrainian living in Washington DC worked at Microsoft from August 2016 to June 2018. Kvashuk used his position in Microsoft’s online retail sales program to steal “currency stored value (CSV)” such as digital gift cards.
Kvashuk used his colleagues' test accounts and a Bitcoin mixer to cover up the crime. For seven months, about $2.8 million in bitcoins were transferred to his bank accounts - in a tax return, the ex-employee said that the cryptocurrency came to him from a relative.
With the stolen funds, he bought a house on the lake for $1.6 million and a Tesla car for $160,000.
For concealment of taxable income, fraud with declarations, theft, and money laundering, Kvashuk was sentenced to nine years in prison. The court also ordered him to pay more than $8 million in damages and could be deported following his prison term.
Recall that in August, a Russian hacker targeted Tesla’s Nevada Gigafactory in a concerted plot to cripple the company’s network with malware. But the FBI and a Tesla employee thwarted those plans.
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