Russian nationals charged with operating crypto mixers that masked cybercrime funds – CyberScoop
Three Russian nationals were indicted this week for their roles in managing a pair of cryptocurrency mixing services, operations that were funded in part by money gained through ransomware attacks.
The indictment from a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Georgia alleges that Roman Vitalyevich Ostapenko, 55, Alexander Evgenievich Oleynik, 44, and Anton Vyachlavovich Tarasov, 32, were the men behind Blender.io and Sinbad.io, fee-based services that allowed users to send cryptocurrency to specific recipients while masking the source of the funds.
The Department of Justice said in a press release announcing the indictments that Blender.io and Sinbad.io were favored by criminals attempting to distance themselves from the source of their “criminally derived funds.” The DOJ said the Russian nationals used those services as “safe havens” for laundering ransomware proceeds, crypto thefts and other ill-gotten gains.
“By allegedly operating these mixers, the defendants made it easier for state-sponsored hacking groups and other cybercriminals to profit from offenses that jeopardized both public safety and national security,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brent S. Wible, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The indictment and arrests announced [Tuesday], which follow the earlier takedown of the defendants’ criminal infrastructure, yet again demonstrate the value of our international partnerships in countering the global threat from cybercrime.”
Blender.io, which was operational from 2018 to 2022, touted its “No Logs Policy” and the deletion of any traces of transactions in an advertisement posted on a well-trafficked internet forum. The ad assured potential users that “there are no personal details asked for” and “as far as blender.io goes they don’t know who you are.”
When the site shut down, Sinbad.io popped up in its place a few months later, operating in the same manner until the FBI’s Atlanta field office, Netherlands’ Financial Intelligence and Investigative Service and Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation took down the service in November 2023. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control previously sanctioned both Blender.io and Sinbad.io.
Ostapenko faces one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and two counts of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, while Oleynik and Tarasov were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.
Each defendant faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for money laundering conspiracy and five years for each count of unlicensed money transmitting business. Ostapenko and Oleynik were arrested Dec. 1, 2024, while Tarasov is still at large.
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