The Justice Department of the United States has announced that it has seized the domain of Garantex, a crypto exchange which is alleged to have laundered money and violated sanctions. The Justice Department said it worked in collaboration with Germany and Finland to disrupt Garantex’s operations and seize the exchange’s website.
The Justice Department has also unsealed an indictment in the Eastern District of Virginia against Aleksej Besciokov, a 46-year-old Lithuanian, who resides in Russia. The indictment also targets Aleksandr Mira Serda, a 40-year-old Russian national and United Arab Emirates resident. Mira Serda and Besciokov are charged with money laundering conspiracy, and Besciokov is charged with conspiracy to violate sanctions and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business.
Besciokov was responsible for administrating the site and looking after the infrastructure, while Serda was Garantex’s co-founder and chief commercial officer. According to the Justice Department, at least $96 billion worth of cryptocurrency was transacted through the exchange and was used by transnational criminal organizations, including terrorist organizations.
Describing the actions international partners took, and the charges being brought against the individuals, the Justice Department said:
“As part of the coordinated actions, German and Finnish law enforcement seized servers hosting Garantex’s operations. U.S. law authorities have separately obtained earlier copies of Garantex’s servers, including customer and accounting databases. In addition, U.S. law enforcement has also frozen over $26 million in funds used to facilitate Garantex’s money laundering activities.
Besciokov and Mira Serda are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Besciokov is also charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and with conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.”
If you ever used Garantex and lost funds, the Justice Department says you can contact law enforcement at the following email address GarantexClaimants@secretservice.gov.
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