The press release the FBI put out charges the men of operating this exchange through a "phony front-company and, at times, a federal credit union that Murgio acquired for purposes of the scheme."

According to the FBI, "Since at least late 2014, Murgio, Lebedev, and their co-conspirators have knowingly operated Coin.mx, a bitcoin exchange service, in violation of federal anti-money laundering laws and regulations, including those requiring money services businesses like Coin.mx to meet registration and reporting requirements …"

The FBI has also charged that, "they knowingly exchanged cash for people who they believed may be engaging in criminal activity." One particular form of criminal activity was exchanging cash for bitcoin for those that had been attacked by ransomware. When this occurs, a user's computer is completely blocked until the "ransom" is paid. Bitcoin has become an easy way to make these payments due to its anonymous nature.