Garantex, a Russian crypto exchange popular with ransomware gangs and darknet markets, has been discontinued by international law enforcement activities, according to a Friday announcement from the US Department of Justice (DOJ).
On Thursday, a coalition of law enforcement in the US, Germany and Finland seized Garantex’s domains and servers, frozen nearly $28 million in ciphers tied to exchanges with the help of Stablecoin publisher Tether.
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has approved Garlantex in 2022, accusing ransomware actors, including Conti and Black Busta, as well as deliberately promoting money laundering in dark net markets like Hydra before the 2022 closure.
Sanctions had little or no effect on Garantex. It supported the US investigation and processed more than $60 billion in Crypto transactions after the exchange was approved, according to data from blockchain detective firm Elliptic. In total, exchanges are trading over $96 billion.
According to court documents, Garantex collected very little customer (KYC) information about its clients, allowing criminals to use unchecked services, and accounts were registered with customers using names such as “drug”, “hacker”, “Taliban”, “cash out, clean coins”, and “God”.
In addition to ransomware actors and the darknet market, Garantex customers are said to have included the Lazaro Group, the state-certified force of North Korea. The Lazarus Group was behind a $1.5 billion Bibit robbery last month. Sleek international sanctions avoidance companies like the TGR group, which caters to the Russian elite, are tied to Garantex.
Following the seizure of Garantex’s servers and domains, two operators have been criminally charged in the US for their connections with the exchange.
Aleksedi Beshkov, 46, a Lithuanian citizen and resident of Russia, has been charged with money laundering conspiracy, violating sanctions and conspiracy to operate a remittance business that does not require licenses. Alexander Mira Cerda, 40, a Russian citizen currently resident in the United Arab Emirates, is being charged with a conspiracy to launder money.
