Two of the three defendants were arrested in December. Crypto mixer sites have been sanctioned since they were shut down.
The US Department of Justice has brought charges against three Russian citizens in connection with their involvement in the crypto mixers Blender and Sinbad. The services were reportedly used to launder criminally obtained funds, including those stolen by North Korean hackers.
The three defendants — Roman Vitalievich Ostapenko, 55, Aleksandr Evgenievich Oleynik, 44, and Anton Vyacheslavovich Tarasov, 32 — are accused of conspiracy to launder money and operating an unregistered payment service. Ostapenko and Oleynik were arrested on December 1, 2024, while Tarasov is wanted.
According to the indictment, Blender operated from 2018 to 2022. The service was actively advertised on online forums, emphasizing the absence of user activity logs and the deletion of all traces of their operations. The advertisement also noted that the service does not require registration or the provision of any information other than the recipient's address, ensuring the anonymity of users.
After Blender was shut down, Sinbad took its place, which provided similar services. However, on November 27, 2023, the Sinbad.io mixer servers were confiscated as part of an international operation carried out by the US FBI, as well as law enforcement agencies in the Netherlands and Poland.
The US Treasury imposed sanctions on both services through the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Blender was sanctioned on May 6, 2022, for laundering funds for North Korea and various ransomware groups (cryptolockers). Sinbad was sanctioned on November 29, 2023, for "associations with government hacking groups" and other cybercriminals.
In November 2024, a court in the US ruled that sanctions against the crypto mixer Tornado Cash were illegal. The open-source smart contracts that power Tornado Cash are not owned by anyone and therefore cannot be sanctioned, the judges ruled.
In 2022, Alexey Pertsev was arrested in the Netherlands and charged with involvement in laundering money that passed through Tornado Cash. In May of this year, a court found Pertsev guilty and sentenced him to five years and four months in prison. His supporters argue that Pertsev only wrote the Tornado Cash code and had nothing to do with the criminal activity associated with the use of the mixer.
Two other Tornado Cash founders, Roman Semenov and Roman Storm, have also been charged with laundering $1 billion. Semenov was charged in absentia, while Storm was arrested in August 2023 but released on $2 million bail. He did not plead guilty at the time. Storm's trial in the US is scheduled for April 2025.
More details on RBC:
www.rbc.ru
The US Department of Justice has brought charges against three Russian citizens in connection with their involvement in the crypto mixers Blender and Sinbad. The services were reportedly used to launder criminally obtained funds, including those stolen by North Korean hackers.
The three defendants — Roman Vitalievich Ostapenko, 55, Aleksandr Evgenievich Oleynik, 44, and Anton Vyacheslavovich Tarasov, 32 — are accused of conspiracy to launder money and operating an unregistered payment service. Ostapenko and Oleynik were arrested on December 1, 2024, while Tarasov is wanted.
According to the indictment, Blender operated from 2018 to 2022. The service was actively advertised on online forums, emphasizing the absence of user activity logs and the deletion of all traces of their operations. The advertisement also noted that the service does not require registration or the provision of any information other than the recipient's address, ensuring the anonymity of users.
After Blender was shut down, Sinbad took its place, which provided similar services. However, on November 27, 2023, the Sinbad.io mixer servers were confiscated as part of an international operation carried out by the US FBI, as well as law enforcement agencies in the Netherlands and Poland.
The US Treasury imposed sanctions on both services through the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Blender was sanctioned on May 6, 2022, for laundering funds for North Korea and various ransomware groups (cryptolockers). Sinbad was sanctioned on November 29, 2023, for "associations with government hacking groups" and other cybercriminals.
In November 2024, a court in the US ruled that sanctions against the crypto mixer Tornado Cash were illegal. The open-source smart contracts that power Tornado Cash are not owned by anyone and therefore cannot be sanctioned, the judges ruled.
In 2022, Alexey Pertsev was arrested in the Netherlands and charged with involvement in laundering money that passed through Tornado Cash. In May of this year, a court found Pertsev guilty and sentenced him to five years and four months in prison. His supporters argue that Pertsev only wrote the Tornado Cash code and had nothing to do with the criminal activity associated with the use of the mixer.
Two other Tornado Cash founders, Roman Semenov and Roman Storm, have also been charged with laundering $1 billion. Semenov was charged in absentia, while Storm was arrested in August 2023 but released on $2 million bail. He did not plead guilty at the time. Storm's trial in the US is scheduled for April 2025.
More details on RBC:
США выдвинули обвинения против россиян — операторов криптомиксеров Sinbad и Blender :: РБК.Крипто
Двое из троих обвиняемых арестованы в декабре. Сайты криптомиксеров с момента закрытия находятся под санкциями
www.rbc.ru