Three Russian nationals linked to the operation of sanctioned crypto mixing services Blender.io and Sinbad.io have been indicted on money laundering charges by a federal grand jury in Georgia, the U.S. Department of Justice announced in a statement Friday.
Roman Vitalyevich Ostapenko and Alexander Evgenievich Oleynik were arrested last month and face money laundering charges. A third person linked to the services’ operations, Anton Vyachlavovich Tarasov, is at large, the DOJ said.
Authorities in several jurisdictions had already seized and dismantled the computer equipment behind the services. Blender.io was previously sanctioned by the US Treasury Department for helping to hide crypto products from cyberthefts carried out by North Korean hackers. The move marked the Treasury’s first sanctions against a crypto mixer, a service aimed at anonymizing transactions and erasing the public record of digital assets.
“According to the indictment, the defendants operated cryptocurrency ‘mixers’ that served as safe havens to launder criminal funds, including ransomware and wire fraud proceeds,” the Attorney General said Senior Deputy Brent S. Wible, chief of the DOJ Criminal Division. , in a press release. “By allegedly operating these mixers, defendants made it easier for state-sponsored hacking groups and other cybercriminals to profit from offenses that endanger both public safety and national security.”
Read more: Crypto Mixer sanctioned by US Treasury over North Korea allegations, as FBI, Dutch and Finnish police seize website
Lawsuits against cryptocurrency mixing services — controversial businesses that represent both the industry’s vulnerability to criminal use and its defense of financial privacy — have been a point of contention for U.S. policymakers and members. of Congress.
In the most famous case, the Tornado Cash prosecution, the Treasury sanctions were overturned in November by a federal appeals court, ruling that the technology behind these services could not be targeted in this way . However, the government is continuing criminal proceedings against the founders of Tornado Cash.
Blender.io operated from 2018 to 2022 before being taken down by authorities, only to be quickly replaced by Sinbad.io, which faced similar sanctions from the Treasury Department.
