The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has once again included the cryptocurrency exchange Garantex Europe on its list of sanctioned entities.
A notice on Thursday showed that OFAC stated it re-sanctioned Garantex and its 'successor' Grinex, and sanctioned three Garantex executives and six companies based in Russia and Kyrgyzstan for their alleged assistance in illegal transactions. It is claimed that Garantex has processed over $100 million in transactions related to illegal activities since 2019.
"Digital assets play a critical role in global innovation and economic development, and the U.S. will not tolerate this industry being used to support cybercrime and evade sanctions," said John Hurley, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
OFAC initially sanctioned Garantex in 2022 for 'deliberately ignoring' anti-money laundering and anti-terror financing requirements. OFAC stated that the head of Garantex created Grinex to evade measures against the exchange, including the seizure of $26 million in cryptocurrency, shutting down its website, and prosecuting two executives.
The sanctions also involve multiple Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tron wallet addresses.
The founder of Garantex was arrested in India.
The U.S. Department of Justice has lifted the charges against Garantex executives Alexander Mira Serda and Alexey Bestyukov, the latter of whom was arrested while on vacation in India. He faces multiple charges of money laundering conspiracy, violating U.S. sanctions, and operating an unlicensed money service.
On August 6, a U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issued a 'revised' arrest warrant for Mira Serda. At the time of reporting, he was still at large, and U.S. authorities offered rewards of up to $6 million for information leading to the arrest of him or other Garantex executives.