Russian Nationals Face DOJ Charges for Laundering Cryptocurrency Theft Proceeds

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Jan. 10 the indictment of three Russian nationals for operating cryptocurrency mixers used in laundering criminal proceeds.

Three Russian nationals have been indicted by a grand jury in the District of Maryland for operating cryptocurrency mixers Blender.io and Sinbad.io, which were allegedly used to launder criminal proceeds, including the proceeds of ransomware and wire fraud, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Jan. 10.

Roman Vitalyevich Ostapenko, Alexander Evgenievich Oleynik, and Anton Vyachlavovich Tarasov were charged with facilitating money laundering through the Blender.io and Sinbad.io cryptocurrency mixers. The DOJ alleges that these services were designed to obscure the origins of illicit funds. Ostapenko and Oleynik were arrested in December 2024, while Tarasov is still wanted by law enforcement.

In 2023, a coordinated international law enforcement effort led to the dismantling of Sinbad.io's infrastructure.

Brent S. Wible, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in a statement:

“As alleged in the indictment, the defendants operated cryptocurrency ‘mixers’ that served as safe havens for laundering criminally derived funds, including the proceeds of ransomware and wire fraud.”

According to prosecutors, Blender.io and Sinbad.io catered to cybercriminals, offering a service that allowed users to pay a fee to anonymize their transactions. Prosecutors allege that the mixers enabled criminals to launder proceeds from cryptocurrency thefts, ransomware attacks, and other offenses, while attempting to conceal the origins of their funds.

“Blender.io and Sinbad.io were cryptocurrency mixers that allowed their users, for a fee, to send cryptocurrency to designated recipients in a manner designed to hide the source of the cryptocurrency,” court documents and publicly available information state.

Both Blender.io and Sinbad.io were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for links to cybercrime, including funds connected to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and operating unlicensed money-transmitting businesses, which carry potential sentences of up to 20 years in prison for the conspiracy count.