Russian crypto businessman arrested in US for laundering $500 million and circumventing sanctions

Dmytro Kazantsev - 10 June, 08:30 PM

The US Department of Justice has charged Russian crypto businessman Yuri Gugnin with laundering more than $500 million, evading sanctions, and illegally exporting American technology to the Russian Federation.

According to the Ministry of Justice, the entrepreneur acted through cryptocurrency firms Evita Pay and Evita Investments, registered in Florida and Delaware.

According to the indictment, the crypto businessman turned these firms into a mechanism for concealing international transactions and circumventing sanctions.

Yuriy Gugnin, who was arrested in New York, is charged with 22 counts, including bank and wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), conducting an unlicensed money business, and concealing suspicious activity from authorities. The crypto entrepreneur has already appeared in court.

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Crypto businessman Yuriy Gugnin; photo from techtimes.com

"The Department of Justice will not hesitate to bring to justice those who imperil our national security by enabling our foreign adversaries to sidestep sanctions and export controls," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg.

According to the Financial Times, prosecutors said that Gugnin made payments on behalf of foreign clients for American electronics subject to export controls and for spare parts for the Russian state nuclear technology company Rosatom.

In a letter sent to a judge in New York, prosecutors noted that Gugnin has connections with officials in Russia and Iran, including representatives of Russian intelligence services, who could help him escape justice.

According to the indictment, Gugnin, also known as Yuri Mashukov and George Gugnin, was living in the United States on an O-1A visa, which is intended for individuals of "outstanding ability or achievement." He moved to New York in 2022.

Prosecutors also say that Gugnin facilitated transactions totaling about $2 billion, with most of his clients based in Russia and using Russian banks that are subject to U.S. sanctions. Other clients resided in China and the United Arab Emirates.

Interestingly, in 2023, Yuriy Gugnin gave an interview to Tech Times, in which he spoke, among other things, about cybercrime. "As for cybercrime, its prevalence is likely to increase as tech continues to permeate our lives. The reality is that with more opportunities for hacking, there's a greater risk of digital theft. Common cyber crimes of today are usually related to money laundering, with attackers connected to terrorism, drug trafficking, circumventing sanctions, etc. My current focus is increasing the transparency of financial markets with the help of cryptocurrencies, therefore reducing the number of fraudulent cases," Gugnin said at the time. Now he faces up to 30 years in prison.

As we wrote earlier, the US Treasury Department stated last year that artificial intelligence is making it easier for fraudsters to carry out more sophisticated attacks on financial companies, and new advances in AI are allowing criminals to more realistically simulate voice or video to impersonate customers of financial institutions and gain access to accounts.