The US department of justice Announced on Friday Criminal Charges Against The Administrator of the Russian Cryptocurrency Exchange Garantex For Allegedly Facilitating Money Laundering by Criminal and Terrorist Organizations, AS WLLS VILLITING Us Sanctions.
The two administors are lithuanian national and russian residence Aleksej Besciokov, 46, and Aleksandr Mira Serda, 40, A Russian National Residence in the United Arab Emirates, WHO “KNEW” Being laundered through Garantex and Took Steps to Conceal The Facilitation of Illegal Activities on its platform, ” According to the indictment Against them.
The doj said that garantex “Received hundreds of millions in criminal proseds and was used to facilitate various crimes, include Hacking, Ransomware, Terrorism, and TRARORRISM, and Drug Trafficking” Processed at Least $ 96 Billion in Cryptocurrency Transactions Since 2019.
In the indictment, prosecutors accuse besciokov of personally allowing transactions linked to cybercriminals, including the North Korean-Government Hackers KNOWN as Lazarus Group.
The announcing of the indictment came a day after the US secret service and a coalition of law enforcement agencies Took down and seized the official websites of garantexReplacing their contents with a banner featuring the agencies’ logos and announcing the site’s seizure.
When techcrunch reacted out to three garantex email addresses listed on its its official page prior to the takeown, our emails were returned as undelivered. Garantex did not respond to multiple requests for comment through its official telegram channel.
Besciokov and mira sera area bot accused of a money laundering conspiracy, while beSCIOKV is also accused of conspiracy to Violate Sanctions and Conspiracy, and of Operating AnnalySED Money Business. Both face a maximum of 20 years in prison for the money laundering charge, while besciokov faces another maximum sentence of 20 years for 20 years for conspiracy to Violate Us Sanctions, And Another Maximum of Maximum of Maximum of Five Year. Conspiracy to operate an unlicked money transmitting business.
IT’s Unclear If the two has been arrested. Shannon Shevlin, a spekesperson for the department of justice, told techcrunch that the doj does not know if Mira Serda has been arrested in the uae.
The two charged garatex administrators could not be reached by techcrunch for comment.
Us prosecutors alleged that Besciokov and Mira Serda Knew that their crypto exchange was used for money laundering and actively worked to make that Haappen even when all the russian authorites are asked. According to the doj, when russian law enforcement Records at some point related to a mira serda account on garantex, the company provided income provided income Verified. ”
“In Reality, Garantex Had Associated The Account with Mira Serda’s Personal Identifying Documents,” According to the indictment.
Millions in Crypto Seized, Doj Confirms
Garantex has been the focus of Western Government Action for Several Years.
In 2022, as part of a series of actions against Russian Cybercrime, The US Treasury Sanctioned GarantexMentioning annalysis that showed that “Over $ 100 million in transactions are associateed with illicit actors and darknet markets, include $ 6 million from russian [Ransomware as a Service] Gang Conti and also include approximately $ 2.6 million from [darknet market] Hydra. ”
Also, in 2024, as part of a series of sanctions against Russia for invading ukraine, The European Union Sanctioned GarantexAlleging the exchange is “Closely Associated with Eu-Sanctioned Russian Banks.”
According to the doj, despite sanctions imposed by the US government, besciokov and his co-conspirators Violated sanctions law by containuing to account transactions with us-based entities, and also also “Redesigned Garantex’s Operations to Evade and Violate Us Sanctions and Induce Us Us Businesses to unwittingly Transact with Garantex in Violation of the Sanctions.”
“For example, garantex moved its operateal cryptocurrency wallets to different virtual currency addresses on a daily basis in order to make it diges Exchanges to identify and block transactions with garantex accounts, “Read the doj announs.
The doj also said that us law enforcement Froze Over $ 26 Million in Funds Used to Facilitate Garantex’s Money Laundering. Doj spokesperson shevlin told techcrunch that the department froze a total of 23,034,884.75 tether and 35.57 bitcoin on binance (Worth around $ 3 million as friday), Amounting to 42 Million.
Even Before These Law Enforcement Actions, Garantex Announced on Thursday that it has suspended “all services, include cryptocurrency withdrawals,” After StableCoin Issuer tether blocked wallets Belonging to garantex that was held more than $ 28 million.
“We have bad news. Tether has entered the war against the russian crypto market, “Garantex wind announsement“We are fighting and will not give up! Please note that all [Tether] In Russian wallets is currently under threat. As always, we are the first, but not the last. “
After the doj’s announce on Friday, Garantex Posted an alert on telegram About scammers “Pretending to be the restored garantex exchange or offering to withdraw funds.”
“These are all scammers! Their Goal is to Gain Access to Users’ Personal Data, Wallet Addresses and other sensitive information, “The announsement in russian read, according to a machine translation of it.
The announsement made no mention of the website takedown, Nor of the indictments of Bescikov and Mira Serda.