Russian military group is believed to have funded operations and hack into computer networks and email ids of Democrats.
Moneycontrol News
A 12-member Russian military intelligence group indicted for allegedly hacking computer networks and meddling in the 2016 US presidential election used bitcoin to fund operations, court papers reveal.
According to Coindesk, the indictment has accused Russian intelligence officers of hacking several computer networks and email accounts of Democrats, including presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Russian officers have been accused of laundering capital equivalent to $95,000 through a "web of transactions structured to capitalize on the perceived anonymity of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin." It is also alleged that US dollars and other currencies were used by defendants to alter the election results. Bitcoins were primarily used to purchase servers, registering domains, and otherwise making payments to launch the hack.
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Payments are said to have been made to companies, some of which also mine bitcoins. To track bitcoin transactions and facilitate payments, the defendants allegedly made use of multiple dedicated email accounts. Bitcoins were transferred by the indicted officials, who used the same computers that were used in hacking various email accounts.
Robert Mueller, a former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director, was appointed in May 2017 to lead the special counsel investigation. The investigation has drawn ire from President Donald Trump, who vehemently denies any collusion on election meddling.