U.S. charges Russian nationals with billion-dollar money laundering scheme on secret cryptocurrency exchanges

U.S. federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against two Russian nationals who are accused of operating billion-dollar money-laundering operation associated with secret cryptocurrency exchanges.

The indictment was announced part of a multi-departmental operation focusing on crypto crimes that coordinated efforts between the Justice Department, State Department and U.S. Dept. of Treasury. The three federal agencies also collaborated with other federal and international law enforcement partners to combat Russian money laundering operations.

“Today's actions highlight the Department’s continued disruption of malicious cyber actors and their criminal ecosystem,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco in a statement shared by Justice on its official website. “The two Russian nationals charged today allegedly pocketed millions of dollars from prolific money laundering and fueled a network of cyber criminals around the world, with Ivanov allegedly facilitating darknet drug traffickers and ransomware operators.

Monaco said that the U.S. working with “Dutch partners,” to shut down an enterprise known as Cryptex, which she described as “an illicit crypto exchange and recovered millions of dollars in cryptocurrency.” The federal law enforcement agency also seized web domains that it alleges were part of the crypto exchanges.

U.S. Secret Service Assistant Director Brian Lambert of the Office of Special Investigations thanked “domestic and foreign partners” for their participation in continuing to pursue “transnational criminal activity.”

According to court documents unsealed Thursday in the Eastern District of Virginia, Russian national Sergey Ivanov, known online as “Taleon,” among other aliases, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aiding and abetting bank fraud for providing support to a credit card website called “Rescator” that processed payments, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering for laundering profits from a credit card website called “Joker's Stash.”

For about 20 years, Ivanov allegedly worked as a professional cyber money launderer, the documents allege, advertising his services to other cybercriminals on exclusive Russian-speaking criminal forums.

Over the years, the defendant's money laundering services and payment systems served cybercrime markets, ransomware groups, and hackers responsible for data breaches of major U.S. companies.

Another Russian national, Timur Shakhmametov, known online as “JokerStash” and “Vega,” among other aliases, was also charged in the same case with one count of conspiracy to commit and aiding and abetting bank fraud, one count of conspiracy to committing access device fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

In coordination with the Justice Department’s charges, the U.S. State Department issued reward offers of up to $11 million through its Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Ivanov and others involved in the operation.

U.S. government officials are also seeking information related to others involved in the Joker's Stash operation.