Founder of digital currency Liberty Reserve extradited to the US

Arthur Budovsky, 40, a citizen of Costa Rica, arrived in the U.S. on Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Budovsky was arrested in Spain in May 2013 after a grand jury in a federal court in New York City indicted him on charges related to money laundering.

Budovsky is scheduled to appear before a judge Saturday, with an arraignment scheduled for next Tuesday, the DOJ said in a press release.

The DOJ has accused Budovsky, a former U.S. resident, of allowing criminals "to process illegal payments and to launder billions of dollars in crime proceeds," Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell of the DOJ's Criminal Division, said in a statement.

Budovsky founded Liberty Reserve after running a third-party exchange service called Gold Age for the digital currency E-Gold, the DOJ said. Budovksy was convicted in New York state of operating Gold Age as an unlicensed money-transmitting business in the mid-2000s, the agency said.

Budovsky then began creating a new digital currency. He launched Liberty Reserve in Costa Rica in 2006.