The application of the international law disrupts Guarantx, an exchange of cryptocurrency of several billion dollars used for money laundering. Two individuals, Aleksej Bisciokov and Aleksandr Mira Serda, face charges. Discover the operation and its impact.
An exchange of cryptocurrency, Guarantx, suspected of having facilitated significant financial crimes, was dismantled by organizations for applying the law of the United States, Germany and Finland thanks to a collaboration effort.
The operation was aimed at disrupting the exchange infrastructure and financial activities, which would be involved in money laundering activities for transnational criminal groups and violations of international sanctions.
The operation led to the absence of an indictment (accessible here ) In the Virginia Oriental District and the deposit of criminal charges against two people – “Aleksej Bisciokov, 46, a Lithuanian and Russian national resident, and Aleksandr Mira Serda (previously Aleksandr Ntifo -Siaw), 40, an Arab national and resident of Russian emirates”.
The police have executed a crisis order against Garantex.org,, Garantex.ioAnd Garantex.academyAnd servers welcoming the Guarantx operations were seized by the German and Finnish police, as well as the seizure of $ 28 million in crypto.
According to DocumentsBisciokov was the main technical administrator of Garantex, responsible for maintaining critical and transactions approval infrastructure. Mira Serda, co -founder of the exchange and sales director, supervised commercial operations. Suspects are accused of money laundering conspirators. Bisciokov faces additional accusations of conspiracy to violate the sanctions and the conspiracy to exploit a business transmission company without license.
Guarantx is suspected of having facilitated the money laundering activities of several billion dollars, to facilitate crimes such as hacking, ransomware attacks, terrorism funding and drug trafficking, which often affects American victims. Since its creation in April 2019, the exchange would have dealt with at least $ 96 billion in cryptocurrency transactions, involving transnational criminal organizations, including those who have alleged ties with terrorism and violations of international sanctions.
Investigators claim that Bisciokov and Mira Serda were aware of the illicit nature of the Blanchis funds by Guarantx and actively sought to hide these activities. They provided incomplete information to the Russian police and the falsely claimed accounts were not verified.
Although it was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in April 2022 for facilitating money laundering for ransomware players and the Darkweb markets, including Conti, Black Basta and Hydra, Guarantx continued to operate. Indeed, its operators would have redesigned the operations of the company to escape sanctions, in particular by changing the addresses of cryptocurrency portfolio.
The investigation involved the German Federal Criminal Police Office, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Francfurt, the Dutch national police, the Europol, the Finnish national office of the investigation, the Estonian national criminal police and the analysis company of Tether and the elliptical blockchain.
The indictment said that Guarantx customers included the Lazarus group of North Korea, the Russian oligarchs and the TGR group, and a public call was launched for people suspected of being victims of contacting the police.
