96/68 Tuesday, March 11, 2025
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced the seizure of the online infrastructure of Garantex, a major cryptocurrency exchange accused of laundering billions of dollars and violating economic sanctions. U.S. authorities, in cooperation with European agencies, seized Garantex’s primary domain and hosting servers, effectively shutting down the platform. Garantex was identified as being involved in ransomware extortion and transnational criminal organizations, including terrorist groups.
Additionally, the DOJ unsealed an indictment against Aleksej Besciokov, a Lithuanian national, and Aleksandr Mira Serda, a Russian national, on charges of money laundering, conspiracy to violate sanctions, and operating an unlicensed money transmission business. Besciokov served as a Technical Administrator, overseeing the platform’s infrastructure and transaction monitoring, while Mira Serda, the Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer, was accused of helping conceal the platform’s illegal activities. Although Garantex was sanctioned in 2022 due to its role in darknet market and ransomware-related money laundering, it restructured its operations to evade scrutiny.
The operation was conducted with the assistance of law enforcement agencies in Germany and Finland, which helped seize Garantex’s servers. U.S. authorities also recovered customer databases and financial accounts, in addition to freezing over $26 million in illicit assets. Founded in 2019 and operating in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Garantex was found to have ties to Conti and Hydra ransomware gangs. The DOJ stated that the platform played a key role in facilitating cybercrime operations that directly impacted the United States.
Source https://www.securityweek.com/us-seize-garantex-in-cryptocurrency-money-laundering-bust/
