U.S. Justice Department Charges Russian Citizens Over Cryptocurrency Laundering

According to Foresight News, the U.S. Department of Justice has charged four Russian citizens, Alexander Evgenievich Oleynik, Roman Vitalyevich Ostapenko, and Anton Vyachlavovich Tarasov, with involvement in money laundering and unlicensed money transmission through cryptocurrency mixing services Blender.io and Sinbad.io. These platforms are accused of facilitating the laundering of illicit funds, including Bitcoin transfers linked to ransomware and fraudulent transactions. Sinbad.io was relaunched at the end of 2023 after Blender.io was sanctioned, quickly drawing the attention of U.S. authorities. Analysts suggest that this case continues the U.S. crackdown on privacy tools like Tornado Cash, aiming to curb criminal activities associated with digital privacy tools.