Feds shut down Liberty Reserve for money laundering

Liberty Reserve allowed users to conduct anonymous international transactions in digital currency called LR. Essentially a user could open an account in one country, with whatever personal information they chose to associate with the account. The user could then wire money, say dollars, to “approved third-party currency exchanges” in countries like Malaysia, Russia, Nigeria, Vietnam and others, and Liberty Reserve would convert the dollars to LRs and deposit them in another users account.

Liberty Reserve Operators Plead Not Guilty in Scheme

Two operators of Liberty Reserve SA, accused by the U.S. of helping to run the largest money-laundering scheme in history, pleaded not guilty to federal charges.
Vladimir Kats, a Liberty Reserve co-founder, and Mark Marmilev, who the U.S. said helped maintain the business infrastructure, made their first public court appearance since the U.S. announced the case on May 28. A May 24 appearance was held with the charges still under seal, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote said at today’s arraignment in Manhattan.

Costa Rica probes Liberty Reserve founder marriage

Costa Rica (AP) — The man who allegedly founded currency transfer firm Liberty Reserve may have paid a Costa Rican woman to marry him so he could get citizenship in this country, which lacks an extradition treaty with the United States, authorities said Wednesday.Deputy director of judicial investigations Gustavo Vega said officials were still investigating the 2010 marriage between millionaire Arthur Budovsky and a woman who local media identified only by her last names of Valerio Vargas.

US accuses Liberty Reserve of laundering $6 billion

US prosecutors have filed an indictment against the operators of digital currency exchange Liberty Reserve, accusing the Costa Rica-based company of helping criminals around the world launder more than $6 billion in illicit funds linked to everything from child pornography to software for hacking into banks. 
The indictment unsealed on Tuesday said Liberty Reserve had more than a million users worldwide, including at least 200,000 in the United States, and virtually all of its business was related to suspected criminal activity. 

Liberty Reserve digital money service forced offline

Liberty Reserve - a Costa Rican-based digital currency service - has been shut down after the reported arrest of its founder.Authorities in the Central American country said Arthur Budovsky had been taken into custody in Spain on suspicion of money laundering, following an investigation which also involved the US.They added that police had raided several of Mr Budovsky's properties and seized his computer servers.The site went offline on Thursday.