A grand jury has indicted three Russian citizens on charges connected to operating crypto-tumbling services.
According to a new press release by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), a federal grand jury has indicted Russian nationals Roman Ostapenko, Alexander Oleynik and Anton Tarasov for their alleged involvement in operating crypto mixers Blender.io and Sinbad.io.
Crypto mixing services allow users to obfuscate the source of their funds by allowing them to pool their assets and blend them together.
In the press release, authorities say that both of the services were sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) after entities with links to the North Korean government used Blender.io and Sinbad.io to launder stolen crypto and conceal their transactions.
Blender.io was initially sanctioned in May 2022. Months after it got shut down, Sinbad.io popped up and provided similar services. It too was taken down in November 2023.
As stated by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brent S. Wible, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division,
“According to the indictment, the defendants operated cryptocurrency ‘mixers’ that served as safe havens for laundering criminally derived funds, including the proceeds of ransomware and wire fraud.
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.”
Ostapenko and Oleynik were arrested in December 2024 while Tasarov remains at large, according to the press release. Ostapenko is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and two counts of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Meanwhile, Oleynik and Tarasov are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.
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