The United States government has taken action against two Russians and two cryptocurrency exchanges tied to alleged illicit Russian finance. The departments of the Treasury, Justice and State were involved, along with an assortment of overseas law enforcement agencies.
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) identified PM2BTC, a Russian cryptocurrency exchange, and Sergey Ivanov, who is associated with that exchange, as being of “primary money laundering concern.” At the same time, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned Ivanov and another crypto exchange, Cryptex.
Crypto exchanges to the underworld
PM2BTC is alleged to process the proceeds of ransomware attacks and other illicit activities. Half of its activities are linked to illegal operations, according to FinCen. According to Chainalysis, PM2BTC shares wallet infrastructure with UAPS (Universal Anonymous Payment System), an underground payment processing system.
Cryptex is registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines but advertises in Russian. According to the Treasury:
“Cryptex is also associated with over $720 million in transactions to services frequently used by Russia-based ransomware actors and cybercriminals, including fraud shops, mixing services, exchanges lacking KYC programs, and OFAC-designated virtual currency exchange Garantex.”
Sources of Cryptex business. Source: Chainalysis
The Treasury Department acknowledged the US Secret Service Cyber Investigative Section, the Netherlands Police and the Dutch Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Service for seizing web domains and infrastructure associated with PM2BTC, Cryptex and Ivanov. Chainalysis said that it and Tether also contributed to the effort.
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Links to “carding”
In documents unsealed in the District Court of Eastern Virginia, Ivanov was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit and aid and abet bank fraud in connection with websites that engage in “carding,” or trading in stolen credit card information.
Timur Shakhmametov was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit and aid and abet bank fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with the same operations.
Source: US Department of State
The State Department is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Ivanov or Shakhmametov.
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