Pikulev Novel Viktorovich

Biography

2024: U.S. Authorities Filing Charges

In early August 2024 United States Department of Justice , he charged Russian citizen Roman Pikulev with creating and operating an unlicensed one. cryptoexchanges Cryptonator According to the ministry, more than $235 million of illegal funds were laundered through this platform.

The Cryptonator service, launched in 2014, is an online cryptocurrency wallet. It allows users to store assets and exchange them for other cryptocurrencies. Cryptonator is alleged to have failed to implement anti-money laundering measures, allowing anonymous or pseudonymous users to use the site for illegal activities.

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In particular, law enforcement agencies claim that Cryptonator was used by ransomware gangs, darknet marketplaces and other illegal services. Blockchain analytics firm TRM claims the transactions were linked to Hydra Market, Blender.io, Finiko, Bitzlato, Garantex, Nobitex and an unnamed terrorist organisation. In the documents of the US Department of Justice, it is noted that in the period from 2014 to 2023, about $1.4 billion passed through Cryptonator. Part of the funds was distributed as follows:

• $25 million - darknet and fraudulent stores;.
• $34.5 million - fraudulent addresses;
• $80 million - high-risk exchanges;
• $8 million - extortion campaigns;
• $54 million - hacking and theft of cryptocurrency assets;
• $34 million - illegal cryptocurrency mixers;
• $17 million - addresses under sanctions.

The US Department of Justice says that only an email address and password were required to register an account on the Cryptonator platform, which is not enough to comply with the "know your customer" (KYC) rules provided for by the anti-money laundering law. As part of the investigation, the main domain of the Cryptoner project was confiscated.^[1]

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