Sanctions escalate against Russian crypto exchange, partners

Garantex has been hit with heightened U.S. sanctions alongside its successor Grinex and several affiliated firms, according to CyberScoop.

The Russian cryptocurrency exchange was accused of enabling over $100 million in illegal transactions since 2019 by the Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and having played a role in other crimes, such as terrorism, ransomware, and hacking. Exploiting cryptocurrency exchanges to launder money and facilitate ransomware attacks not only threatens our national security, but also tarnishes the reputations of legitimate virtual asset service providers, stated Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley. Up to $6 million in incentives were offered by the State Department for information that resulted in the conviction or arrest of the companys officials, including FC Garantexs Co-Founder Aleksandr Mira Serda. Six more organizations, including A7, Old Vector, A7 Agent, Exved, and InDeFi Bank, were sanctioned by OFAC on Thursday for allegedly being involved with and providing material support to Garantex and Grinex. The crackdown follows a March global law enforcement operation that led to the arrest of executive Aleksej Besciokov in India, the seizure of domains, the confiscation of servers, and the freezing of over $26 million in cryptocurrencies.