On Monday, a Russian citizen was arrested in New York for having turned more than half a billion dollars thanks to American banks and cryptocurrencies. Let's analyze this affair more closely.
Arrested for having laundered half a billion dollars thanks to banks and cryptocurrencies
On Monday, the United States Ministry of Justice accused a Russian citizen living in New York to have laundered $ 530 million, thanks to cryptocurrencies and the American banking system.
Indeed, the so -called Iurii Gugnin, 38 years old and also called Iurii Mashukov and George Goognin, used his companies Evita Investments and Evita Pay to facilitate the money laundering to foreign customers.
According to the press release, the customers in question sent him funds from Russian banks sanctioned, present on the list of specials Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the American Treasury. In particular, these funds were moved through a combination of movements between American bank accounts and a conversion to cryptocurrencies, mainly in Stablecoin USDT.
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The facts took place between June 2023 and January 2025, and among the banks sanctioned, we can cite Sberbank, Sovcombank, VTB Bank and Tinkoff Bank.
Joseph Nocella Jr., prosecutor for the East district of New York commented on this case:
As he was alleged, Gugnin came to the United States and set up a money laundering operation under the guise of a start-up specializing in cryptocurrencies, which he then used to escape sanctions and controls for export and defraud American financial institutions.
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In total, Iurii Gugnin is therefore targeted by 22 chargesof which :
- Banking and electronic fraud;
- Conspiracy to defraud the United States;
- Violation of the law on economic powers of international emergency;
- Exploitation of a license -free fund transfer company;
- Unlike an effective program to combat money laundering;
- Non-declaration of suspicious activity;
- Money laundering and related conspiracy.
For each of these charges, he faces up to a maximum of 10 to 30 years in prison, which suggests that he will spend many years behind bars.
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While some could easily make a fallacious shortcut when they see the use of cryptocurrencies, it should be noted that it is on the contrary an additional proof that They are ineffective for criminal activities. Moreover, this observation seems to be recognized in half a word by Roman Rozhavsky, the deputy director of the division of the counterintelligence of the FBI:
It is important to note that the use of cryptocurrencies to hide illegal activities will not prevent the FBI and its partners from keeping you responsible.
In the meantime, the person concerned still has to go into judgment, and was arrested on Monday in New York.
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Source: Doj
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Since 2021, I have devoted my free time to seriously train myself on cryptocurrencies in order to acquire maximum knowledge and credibility. I often have the opportunity to carry out interviews with influential personalities from the blockchain industry. I also conduct in -depth analyzes on web3 themes to offer exclusive content to cryptoast readers.
Vincent Mayor
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