Cryptocurrency exchanges Cryptex and PM2BTC have been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control for their role in laundering hundreds of millions of virtual currency obtained from Russian ransomware operations and cybercrime groups, BleepingComputer reports.
Both exchanges are associated with Russian Sergey Sergeevich Ivanov, also known as Taleon, who has allegedly provided money laundering services to threat actors in the last 20 years, according to the Treasury Department, who noted that Ivanov was also a payment processor for the recently dismantled Genesis Market stolen credentials marketplace. Moreover, information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Ivanov and Joker's Stash cybercrime store admin Timur Shakhmametov could correspond to up to $10 million in bounties from the State Department's Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program. Officials noted such actions as part of the ongoing global crackdown on Russian cybercrime. "Treasury, in close coordination with our allies and partners, will continue to use all tools and authorities to disrupt the networks that seek to leverage the virtual assets ecosystem to facilitate their illicit activities," said Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley Smith.
