Cryptex

History

2024

The Moscow court arrested the head of the Cryptex crypto exchange Sergei Ivanov. He is accused of creating a criminal community

On October 4, 2024, the Zamoskvoretsky Court of Moscow, at the request of the investigation, arrested Sergei Ivanov, who is considered the organizer of the criminal community of the Cryptex cryptocurrency exchange. This platform is under US sanctions in connection with the "provision of services to cybercriminals." Read more here.

TFR opened a case against the creators of the Cryptex crypto exchange

On October 2, 2024, the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the city of Moscow opened a criminal case against the creators of the anonymous UAPS payment system and the Cryptex cryptocurrency exchange. As part of the investigation, 96 people were detained, and 148 searches were carried out in 14 regions of Russia.

According to the investigation, in 2013, the defendants created a criminal community in order to commit crimes and personal enrichment. With knowledge of banking, the accomplices developed an infrastructure in the form of an anonymous UAPS payment system, Cryptex cryptocurrency exchange and 33 Internet services designed for illegal banking operations, illegal circulation of payment funds and access to legally protected computer information.

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Bloomberg

According to the TFR, members of the criminal community were engaged in illegal exchange of currencies and cryptocurrencies, delivery and reception of cash, sales of bank cards, etc. The clients of UAPS and Cryptex were cybercriminals and hackers who used these services to legalize criminal proceeds. According to the case file, in 2023 alone, the turnover of funds received by the services of the criminal community amounted to more than 112 billion rubles, and the income of the defendants - 3.7 billion rubles.

The case was initiated on the grounds of crimes under Part 1, 2 of Art. 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (organization of a criminal community and participation in it), part 3 of Art. 272 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (illegal access to computer information), part 2 of Art. 187 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (illegal circulation of funds for payments), pp. "a," "b" part 2 of Art. 172 of the Criminal Code of the Russian (illegal banking activity). According to Interfax, one of the defendants is Russian Sergei Ivanov, against whom the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions due to money laundering.^[1]

Falling under US sanctions

On September 26, 2024, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department announced the imposition of sanctions against the Cryptex crypto service operating in Russia. The measures are said to be aimed at protecting national security and the integrity of the U.S. financial system.

The Cryptex platform is registered under the name International Payment Service Provider in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (Caribbean Islands). It is an anonymous service designed to exchange, buy and sell cryptocurrencies without the need for verification for any type of transaction. The US Treasury claims Cryptex provides financial services to cybercriminals.

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Unsplash

Sanctions were also imposed against Russian Sergei Ivanov, who, according to the US department, was an administrator of Cryptex. According to the financial crime agency of the US Treasury (FinCEN), Cryptex has withdrawn more than $720 million in transactions with services "often used by ransomware developers and cybercriminals." Ivanov is also associated with the crypto exchanger PM2BTC, which "contributes to the laundering of convertible virtual currency associated with ransomware and other illegal operations." It is emphasized that the PM2BTC uses unusual obfuscation, which prevents the identification of illegal transactions. A similar method has been used by several suspicious virtual currency exchanges, some of which are under OFAC sanctions.

The US Department of State announced a reward of $10 million for information that will lead to the arrest of Ivanov. The US Secret Service Cyber ​ ​ Investigation Unit, the Netherlands Police and the Netherlands Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Service (FIOD) seized web domains and infrastructure related to Cryptex and PM2BTC.^[2]

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