DOJ Seizes Illicit Crypto Exchanges in Charging of Two Russians With $1,000,000,000 Money Laundering Operation

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has teamed up with other federal and international law enforcement agencies to charge two Russian nationals with multiple cybercrimes, including running illegal crypto exchanges.

In a new press release, the DOJ says it is charging Russian nationals Sergey Ivanov and Timur Shakhmametov with crimes ranging from facilitating stolen credit and debit card transactions to laundering criminal funds with cryptocurrency.

“Ivanov allegedly created and/or operated Russian payment and exchange services UAPS, PinPays, and PM2BTC, which provided money transfer and laundering services directly to criminals. Cryptocurrency blockchain analysis revealed that between July 12, 2013, and Aug. 10, cryptocurrency addresses associated with Ivanov’s alleged money laundering services conducted transactions totaling approximately $1.15 billion in value.

Approximately 32% of all traced Bitcoin sent to these addresses originated from other cryptocurrency addresses associated with criminal activity. For example, more than $158 million of Bitcoin flowing into Ivanov’s addresses allegedly represented fraud proceeds, more than $8.8 million allegedly represented proceeds from known ransomware payments, and approximately $4.7 million allegedly originated from darknet drug markets.

The U.S. Secret Service has obtained court authorization to seize domains associated with the UAPS and PM2BTC websites.”

In addition to the above seizures, the Secret Service also shut down Cryptex, a Russia-based crypto money laundering service that advertised its service to criminals.

Said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division,

“Cryptex promised its cybercriminal customers a safe space to launder their illicit proceeds anonymously. But the coordinated actions announced today — including seizing the Cryptex domains, servers, and proceeds — should put cybercriminals on notice that there are no safe spaces for cybercriminals online. The Criminal Division will continue to work with its domestic and international partnerships to disrupt platforms that enable cybercrime and render those platforms unprofitable.”  

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