The US Division of the Treasury’s Workplace of Overseas Belongings Management (OFAC) has sanctioned a Russian nationwide for her involvement in laundering and transferring funds utilizing digital forex on behalf of Russian elites.
Ekaterina Zhdanova reportedly performed a pivotal position in helping Russian elites and illicit actors in evading US and worldwide sanctions, significantly by exploiting digital forex.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, OFAC imposed in depth financial sanctions on the Russian monetary system. Zhdanova, in March 2022, allegedly aided a Russian shopper in obscuring the supply of over $2.3m, funneling it into Western Europe by way of fraudulent funding accounts and actual property acquisitions.
Zhdanova employed digital forex to facilitate cross-border transactions and leverage entities missing Anti-Cash Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) controls, just like the OFAC-designated Russian cryptocurrency change, Garantex Europe OU.
She allegedly utilized a number of strategies, together with money, connections to worldwide cash laundering associates and conventional companies reminiscent of a luxurious watch firm with a world presence.
Zhdanova additionally performed digital forex change transfers on behalf of oligarchs who’ve relocated internationally. One occasion concerned transferring over $100m in wealth for a Russian oligarch to the United Arab Emirates.
She additionally facilitated United Arab Emirates tax residency providers for Russian purchasers, probably obscuring their identities permitting for the creation of a fund origin managed globally with minimal worldwide oversight.
Moreover, Zhdanova supplied her providers to people linked to the Russian Ryuk ransomware group, reportedly laundering over $2.3m in suspected sufferer funds for a Ryuk ransomware affiliate in 2021. The Ryuk group has posed a big cybercrime menace, primarily focusing on hospitals and healthcare suppliers in the USA.
Learn extra on Ryuk: Extra DDoS, Extra Leaks: The place Ransomware is Headed in 2023
“By means of key facilitators like Zhdanova, Russian elites, ransomware teams and different illicit actors sought to evade US and worldwide sanctions, significantly by way of the abuse of digital forex,” commented below secretary of the treasury for terrorism and monetary intelligence, Brian E. Nelson.
“We stay targeted on safeguarding the US and worldwide monetary system in opposition to those that search to take advantage of this know-how, amongst different illicit finance dangers within the digital property ecosystem.”
