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U.S. Treasury sanctioned alleged Russian hacker Sergey Ivanov
and Cryptex — a St. Vincent and Grenadines registered virtual
currency exchange operating in Russia. Virtual currency
exchanges allow people and businesses to trade cryptocurrencies
for other assets, such as conventional dollars or other digital
currencies.
Treasury alleges that Ivanov has laundered hundreds of millions
of dollars worth of virtual currency for cyber criminals and
darknet marketplace vendors for the last 20 years, including for
Timur Shakhmametov, who allegedly created an online marketplace
for stolen credit card data and compromised IDs called Joker’s
Stash. Ivanov laundered the proceeds from Joker’s Stash,
Treasury says.
The State Department is offering a $10 million reward for
information that would lead to the arrest and possible
conviction of the two men and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in
Virginia has unsealed an indictment against them.
Biden said in a statement announcing the sanctions Thursday that
the U.S. “will continue to raise the costs on Russia for its war
in Ukraine and to deprive the Russian defense industrial base of
resources.”
He meets with Zelenskyy Thursday to announce a surge in security
assistance for Ukraine and other actions meant to assist the
war-torn country as Russia continues to invade.
State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller said, “We will
continue to use all our tools and authorities to deter and
expose these money laundering networks and impose cost on the
cyber criminals and support networks. We reiterate our call that
Russia must take concrete steps to prevent cyber criminals from
freely operating in its jurisdiction.”
U.S officials have taken several actions against Russian
cybercriminals since the start of the invasion in February 2022.
Earlier this year, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control
sanctioned 13 firms — five of which are owned by an already
sanctioned person — and two people who have all either helped
build or operate blockchain-based services for, or enabled
virtual currency payments in, the Russian financial sector,
“thus enabling potential sanctions evasion,” according to U.S.
Treasury.
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