The Russian founder of the Bitzlato cryptocurrency exchange has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for running an unlicensed money transfer business that concealed illegal gambling and drug dealing proceeds worth more than $700 million, having previously served time in the United States. Anatoly Legkodymov, who has been in federal custody since his arrest in January 2023, was sentenced on Thursday by U.S. District Judge Eric Vitaliano in Brooklyn, New York, to serve his sentence. Legkodymov pleaded guilty in December, admitting knowing for years that Bitzlato was used as a conduit for dark web transactions, including the notorious drug marketplace Hydra Market, which was shut down by authorities in 2022. As part of his guilty plea, he also agreed to drop his claim for a $23 million cryptocurrency seized by French authorities. Prosecutors in the US attorney's Breon Peace office in Brooklyn have argued that Legkodymov, who owns and controls Bitzlato, should be sentenced to at least four years in prison for "creating a clearing house for dirty money", allowing the exchange to operate despite repeated warnings that it had become a "safe haven for criminals, drug dealers, ransomware extortionists" on the dark web.