US Charges Two Russian Nationals In Billion-Dollar Money Laundering Scheme
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The US government has charged two Russian nationals for allegedly running a money laundering scheme worth billions of dollars. This operation has been disrupted by law enforcement agencies, who seized websites linked to illegal cryptocurrency exchange activities.
According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), three cryptocurrency exchanges were shut down. These platforms were reportedly used to launder vast sums of money, primarily benefiting ransomware operators, darknet drug traffickers, and other cybercriminals.
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The people charged allegedly are said to have built platforms that helped criminals pay for stolen credit card information, ransomware money, and other bad activities. One person is accused of moving over $1.15 billion through crypto transactions tied to illegal actions.
The charges show that about 32% of the bitcoins linked to this person came from bad sources, like ransomware and darknet drug markets. The platforms they created offered access to information from around 40 million stolen credit cards. This work was connected to a big breach that hurt a US store in 2013, costing over $202 million in damages.
US Attorney Jessica Aber for the Eastern District of Virginia said all move cybercriminals make leaves clues that lead to them. The DOJ worked with other countries’ police to take down several websites linked to these illegal actions, including Cryptex.net.
This site was made to be a cryptocurrency exchange that gave complete secrecy to users, mostly helping criminals dodge know-your-customer rules.
Blockchain checks showed that about 31% of the $1.4 billion that went through Cryptex came from bad sources, like ransomware payments and money from fraud. By taking these sites, US law enforcement stopped these money laundering operations.
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In a team effort, Dutch police took servers connected to the Cryptex exchange, taking away about $7 million in cryptocurrency. The operation also included police from the UK, Latvia, Germany, and Europol, who all helped shut down these illegal activities.
In an effort to bring the accused to justice, the US State Department said they would give rewards of up to $11 million for information that helps find the people involved.
Also, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) called PM2BTC, one of the money-laundering platforms, a “big money laundering concern.” The agency also put penalties on both Cryptex and the charged individuals.
This shows that US authorities are serious about fighting financial crimes and making sure that people involved in these actions get punished.
