The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned a Russian national this Friday for money laundering and moving money through virtual currencies, benefiting Russian elites and cybercriminals.
The Finance Ministry said in a statement that Ekaterina Zhdanova facilitated Russian citizens’ access to Western financial markets.
It used entities with weak controls against money laundering and terrorist financing, such as Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex Europe OU (Garantex).
This type of illicit financial activity using virtual currencies made it possible to circumvent international and US multilateral sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“We remain focused on protecting the U.S. and international financial system from those who seek to exploit this technology (virtual currency), among other illicit financial risks in the virtual asset ecosystem,” said Brian E. Nelson, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. .
Zhdanova, according to the statement, made virtual currency transfers on behalf of Russian oligarchs in other countries. One person used his wife’s name to transfer more than $100 million to the United Arab Emirates in her name.
Zhdanova also provided her clients with a U.S. tax address, an identification card, and a bank account used to receive and transfer the money to offshore bank accounts.
The Treasury Department further added that Zhdanova provided services to individuals associated with Russia’s Ryuk group, which was identified by U.S. law enforcement authorities as an imminent and growing cybercriminal threat to healthcare providers in the country.
As a result of the sanctions imposed by the US today, all assets and property of those involved in the US have been blocked and US citizens and companies are prohibited from doing business with them.
Source: DN
