Two crypto exchanges and two individuals have been sanctioned for ties to underground finance.
The United States government has taken action against two Russians and two cryptocurrency exchanges tied to alleged illicit Russian finance. The departments of the Treasury, Justice and State were involved, along with an assortment of overseas law enforcement agencies.
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) identified PM2BTC, a Russian cryptocurrency exchange, and Sergey Ivanov, who is associated with that exchange, as being of “primary money laundering concern.” At the same time, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned Ivanov and another crypto exchange, Cryptex.
PM2BTC is alleged to process the proceeds of ransomware attacks and other illicit activities. Half of its activities are linked to illegal operations, according to FinCen. According to Chainalysis, PM2BTC shares wallet infrastructure with UAPS (Universal Anonymous Payment System), an underground payment processing system.
