U.S. Treasury Dept says has identified Bitzlato Ltd as a 'money laundering concern'

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network on Wednesday said it has identified virtual currency exchange Bitzlato Ltd as a "money laundering concern" related to Russian illicit finance.

The agency's FinCEN unit has issued an order prohibiting certain transmittals of funds involving Bitzlato by any covered financial institution, it said in a statement.

Reuters was unable to immediately locate contact information for Bitzlato.

By midday Wednesday, Bitzlato's website was replaced by a notice saying that the service had been seized by French authorities "as part of a coordinated international law enforcement action."

(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Raphael Satter, Kanishka Singh, Chris Prentice)