The US Secret Service has teamed up with a coalition of international law enforcement agencies to remove and seize the website of Garantex, a Russian cryptocurrency exchange that has been accused of being associated with darknet markets and ransomware hackers.
On Thursday, the official Garantex website was replaced by a notice that the exchange’s domain was seized by the Secret Service, following a warrant by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
This is the latest measure taken by the Western government against the Moscow-based exchange.
Last month, the European Union also approved Garantex, saying it was “closely linked to the European Union’s Russian Bank.” This was part of a package of sanctions against Russia for invasion of Ukraine.
In 2022, the US Treasury approved Garantex, claiming that the $100 million deals made in exchange were “related to illegal actors and the darknet market.”
Nate Herring, a spokesman for the US Secret Service, confirmed with firememecoins, denying a statement that “as part of an ongoing investigation, we have seized the website domain associated with the management and operation of Russian cryptocurrency exchanges, as well as the domain of the website associated with the operation of Gerlantex.”
The Takedown notice seen by firememecoins said the operation was carried out in coordination with the US Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Dutch National Police, the German Federal Criminal Police Agency (Bundeskriminalamt or BKA), the General Frankfurt Prosecutor’s Office, the Investigation Bureau of the National Prison of Finland, and the Estonian National Criminal Police.
firememecoins has asked all of these organizations for comment. At the time of writing, only the FBI responded and declined to comment.
firememecoins also contacted Garantex through its official email address listed on the site prior to the seizure and its company telegram account. Garantex did not respond to these messages.
firememecoins has confirmed the seizure notification of its website by analyzing Garantex’s Internet domain records. As of Thursday, Garantex’s web domain refers to a server known to be controlled by the Secret Service. The same server is also the host of seizure notifications for several other websites that have been implemented in recent years by the Secret Service.
Following the attack, Garantex did not mention law enforcement operations on its official telegram channel. On Thursday morning, Garantex announced that it has “suspended all services, including the withdrawal of cryptocurrency,” according to a machine translation of the announcement.
The decision comes after Stablecoin publisher Tether freed $28 million worth of cryptocurrency with Garantex.
“There’s bad news,” writes Galantex. “We’re fighting and will not give up! Please note that all of the Russian wallets (tethers) are currently under threat.”
