WASHINGTON – As part of a coordinated international effort, the United States Secret Service seized website domains linked to Russian cryptocurrency exchange, Garantex and froze multiple crypto currency assets owned by the exchange. Garantex allegedly facilitates sanctions violations and money laundering by transnational criminal organizations—including terrorist organizations. Since April 2019, Garantex has processed at least $96 billion in cryptocurrency transactions.
On March 6, the Secret Service seized three website domain names used to support Garantex’s operations. The seizure order was authorized by a judge in the Eastern District of Virginia. These sites are Garantex.org, Garantex.io, and Garantex academy and are associated with the administration and operation of Garantex. The seizures prevent the owners and third parties from using the sites for money laundering. Individuals visiting those sites will now see a message indicating that the site was seized by law enforcement. The Secret Service also froze over $26 million in crypto currency transactions made through the site that were used to facilitate Garantex’s money laundering activities. In addition, indictments were unsealed against Lithuanian national Aleksej Besciokov and Russian national Aleksandr Mira Serda for their alleged roles in the operation of Garantex.
“The seizure of website domains associated with Garantex’s operations and the freezing of over $26 million in cryptocurrency strikes a serious financial blow to cybercriminals worldwide,” said Michael Centrella, Assistant Director of the U.S. Secret Service’s Office of Field Operations. “Alongside our U.S. and international law enforcement partners, this coordinated action will prevent additional funds from falling into the hands of criminals.”
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Garantex received hundreds of millions in criminal proceeds and was used to facilitate various crimes, including hacking, ransomware, terrorism, and drug trafficking, often with substantial impact to U.S. victims. According to the indictment, Besciokov and Mira Serda knew that criminal proceeds were being laundered through Garantex and took steps to conceal the facilitation of illegal activities on its platform. For example, when Russian law enforcement sought records relating to an account registered to Mira Serda, Garantex provided incomplete information in response and falsely claimed the account was not verified. In reality, Garantex had associated the account with Mira Serda’s personal identifying documents, even while disclosing identifying information related to other accounts requested by Russian law enforcement.
As part of the coordinated actions, German and Finnish law enforcement seized servers hosting Garantex’s operations. Those servers have been taken offline at various locations around the world. U.S. law authorities have separately obtained earlier copies of Garantex’s servers, including customer and accounting databases. The FBI also assisted with the investigation.
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