Florida resident Ricardo Hill has pleaded guilty to charges which arose from his employment with an unlicensed Israeli-owned bitcoin exchange called Coin.mx which oversaw a massive scheme to hack companies including JPMorgan Chase, according to a Reuters report.
Hill pleaded guilty on seven counts, including conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, wire fraud and bank fraud. He is one of nine people to face charges following an investigation connected to a data breach that JPMorgan disclosed in 2014 involving records for over 83 million accounts.
According to prosecutors, Coin.mx was operated by another Florida resident, Anthony Murgio, from 2013 to 2015. He exchanged millions of dollars into bitcoin while operating through several fronts, including one named the ‘Collectables Club’.
Coin.mx was allegedly owned by Gery Shalon, an Israeli who, along with Joshua Aaron, orchestrated cyber attacks on companies including JPMorgan resulting in more than 100 million people’s information being stolen.
The men carried out the cybercrimes to further other schemes with another Israeli, Ziv Orenstein, including pumping up stock prices with sham promotional emails. All three men have pleaded not guilty.
Murgio, who like Hill was not accused of engaging in the hacking scheme, has pleaded guilty to charges that included conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
Five other individuals have been charged in connection with Coin.mx, including Murgio’s father. Two individuals linked to it are due to face trial early next month.
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