The US government has used cryptocurrency exchanges used by cyber criminals based in Russia to process illegal funds.
The American Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has issued sanctions on Cryptex – a crypto currency fair that is registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and active in Russia.
One person is also sanctioned, Sergey Sergeevich Ivanov, a Russian citizen associated with virtual currency exchanger PM2BTC.
Ivanov served as the payment processor for various fraud stores using different payment processing services, including one that does business under the name “Uaps”.
At the same time, the Finances Enforcement Network (FINCEN) of the Treasury has issued an order in which PM2BTC is identified as of “primary money well” in connection with Russian illegal financing.
The orders mean all property and interests owned by the people and entities designated above described above in the US or the possession or control of American persons and must be reported to OFAC.
Financial institutions and other persons who undertake transactions with the sanctioned persons and exchanges can be subjected to actions of law enforcement.
Read now: US focuses on crypto companies that help Russia’s duration.
The US Department of Foreign Affairs has also offered up to $ 10 million as a reward for information that leads to the arrest and/or conviction of Ivanov.
In coordination with sanctions, American authorities who work together with Dutch law enforcement have seized web domains and/or infrastructure in connection with PM2BTC, UAPS and Cryptex.
Hundreds of millions of dollars in cyber crime funds processed
The sanctioned entities and persons are responsible for processing hundreds of millions of dollars in funds derived from cyber criminal activities, according to the US government.
Cryptex has received more than $ 51.2 million in funds obtained from ransomware attacks. The crypto exchange is also associated with more than $ 720 million in transactions for services that are often used by ransomware actors and cyber criminals in Russia, including fraud stores, mixed services, exchanges without KYC programs, and of AC-designated virtual currency exchange garantx.
Ivanov has claimed that he has washed hundreds of millions of dollars in virtual currency for ransomware, actors, initial access brokers, DarkNet Marketplace suppliers and other criminal actors over the past 20 years.
This includes serving as a payment processor for various fraud stores, including from AC-designed Genesis Market, the website of which was removed by law enforcement in 2023.
The announcement follows various other legal actions taken in the US to tackle cyber criminals based in Russia this year. This includes the conviction of two Russian nationals for their involvement in the infamous Lockbit Ransomware group in July 2024.
In May, the US, the UK and the Australian governments fired an indictment against Lockbit -leader Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev after the Cronos Law Enforcement Action.