US indicted three Russians for organizing crypto mixers
- Prudent Advisory Service
- Jan 19, 2025
- 2 min read
Three citizens of Russia have been indicted by a US federal grand jury for laundering dirty money through so-called cryptocurrency mixers Blender.io and Sinbad.io.
“Blender.io and Sinbad.io were used by criminals around the world to launder funds obtained from ransomware, theft of virtual currency, and other crimes,” said federal prosecutor Ryan K. Buchanan. “This indictment demonstrates our determination to fight the infrastructure that allows cybercriminals to rob Americans and hide their illicitly obtained income.”
According to the indictment documents, the trio of Russians managed cryptocurrency mixers, which allowed them to conceal the real origin of the funds, including those obtained through ransomware and fraudulent operations.
Blender.io operated from 2018 to 2022, offering services that assured users of complete anonymity, including a “no-logs policy” and no registration requirement. Several months after its closure, Sinbad.io began operations, providing similar services. On November 27, 2023, Sinbad.io was shut down due to a law enforcement operation.
Both services were sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury. Blender.io was sanctioned on May 6, 2022, due to its use by North Korea for laundering virtual currency. Sanctions were also imposed on Sinbad.io on November 29, 2023. Roman Ostapenko (55 years old), Alexander Oliynyk (44 years old), and Anton Tarasov (32 years old) are charged with conspiracy to launder money and operating an unregistered money transmitting business. Ostapenko and Oliynyk were arrested on December 1, 2024, while Tarasov is currently wanted.
The closure of Sinbad.io was made possible through the cooperation of law enforcement agencies from the Netherlands, the USA, Australia, and Finland.
According to Reuters, Russian companies have started using Bitcoin and other digital currencies for international transactions with their allies.
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I’m sharing this…