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Two Russian nationals face charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, while one remains at large.
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The US Justice Department has indicted three Russian nationals alleged to have committed money laundering due to their involvement in operating cryptocurrency mixers Blender.io and Sinbad.io.
In a Jan. 10 notice, US authorities said a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Georgia returned an indictment for Roman Vitalyevich Ostapenko, Alexander Evgenievich Oleynik and Anton Vyachlavovich Tarasov.
The indictment alleged that the crypto-mixing services operated by the three men allowed criminals to launder funds “stolen from victims of ransomware, virtual currency thefts, and other crimes,” according to US Attorney Ryan Buchanan.
“By allegedly operating these mixers, the defendants made it easier for state-sponsored hacking groups and other cybercriminals to profit from offenses that jeopardized both public safety and national security,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brent Wible.
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Blender in May 2022, alleging the North Korea-based Lazarus Group used the mixing service to launder “illicit proceeds” from a crypto heist of the online game Axie Infinity.
Crypto analytics firm Elliptic reported it was “highly likely” that Blender attempted to rebrand itself as Sinbad in February 2023 — a move that could have contributed to OFAC adding the mixer to its list of sanctioned entities in November 2023.
Sinbad’s homepage in November 2023. Source: Sinbad
“Last year, with the assistance of our international partners, we successfully dismantled Sinbad.io,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Sean Burke of the FBI Atlanta Field Office. “However, we did not rest with this initial success. We maintained our focus on identifying the individuals responsible for its development and ensuring their accountability.”
Related: Crypto mixing is ‘not a crime,’ says CryptoQuant CEO
US authorities arrested Ostapenko and Oleynik in December 2024, but Tarasov remained at large at the time of publication. All three face charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, which could result in serving more than 25 years in prison if convicted.
Ongoing enforcement of crypto mixers
Many in the crypto industry criticized OFAC for sanctioning some of the mixing service Tornado Cash’s immutable smart contracts in August 2022. Cryptocurrency advocacy group Coin Center and six individuals backed by Coinbase filed separate lawsuits against the US Treasury after the sanctions, alleging an overreach of authority.
In addition to the three Russian nationals, US and global authorities pursued criminal charges against three Tornado Cash co-founders. Roman Storm’s money laundering case is expected to go to trial in the US in April, Roman Semenov was on the FBI’s most-wanted list, and Alexey Pertsev was sentenced to more than five years in prison in the Netherlands in May 2024.
Magazine: Tornado Cash 2.0: The race to build safe and legal coin mixers
This article first appeared at Cointelegraph.com News
