THELOGICALINDIAN - The US Treasury Department has blacklisted Suex a cryptocurrency agent based in Russia for its money bed-making activities The belvedere is doubtable of processing hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto affairs accompanying to scams ransomware attacks darknet markets and the abominable BTCe exchange
OFAC Adds Russian Crypto OTC Exchange Suex to Blacklist
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury has added Suex to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List. The move, appear Tuesday, finer prohibits U.S. citizens from agreeable with the platform. OFAC additionally appear a account of cryptocurrency addresses affiliated to Suex.
The aggregation abaft the crypto broker, Suex OTC s.r.o., is an article registered in the Czech Republic. However, it operates mainly from branches in the Russian Federation, including its offices in the basic Moscow and the country’s second-largest city, Saint Petersburg. It’s believed that Suex maintains attendance abroad in Russia, the surrounding region, and possibly the Middle East as well.
According to a report by blockchain forensics close Chainalysis, which accurate the U.S. government-led investigation, Suex (“Successful Exchange”) offers users about-face of their cryptocurrency into banknote and added assets at its concrete locations. It’s these casework that accept admiring ransomware actors, scammers, and darknet bazaar operators that accept allegedly beatific over $160 actor in bitcoin (BTC) to the over-the adverse (OTC) crypto broker.
Since ablution in aboriginal 2018, Suex has accustomed a absolute of added than $481 actor in BTC alone, according to barter ante at the time of transfer, and it additionally accepts ether (ETH) and binding (USDT) amid added coins. Of that amount, about $13 actor came from ransomware operators such as Ryuk, Conti, and Maze. Over $24 actor was beatific by crypto scams including the Finiko Ponzi scheme, added than $20 actor originated from darknet markets like the Russian Hydra Market, and addition $20 actor came from mixers, Chainalysis detailed.
The OTC agent additionally got added than $82 actor from “high-risk” agenda asset trading platforms. According to the investigation, Suex accustomed over $50 actor account of cryptocurrency from addresses associated with the now asleep BTC-e. Although the barter was shut bottomward four years ago for facilitating all-embracing money bed-making on account of cybercriminals, the funds were beatific to the crypto agent afterwards that, acceptable by above administrators, associates, or users.
One of the declared operators of BTC-e, Russian IT specialist Alexander Vinnik who was arrested in Greece in the summer of 2017, was sentenced by a French cloister aftermost December to bristles years in bastille for money laundering. Another Russian national, Dmitry Vasiliev, who managed BTC-e’s almsman platform, Wex, was afresh arrested in Poland. Earlier this anniversary addition moved over $30 actor account of ether from a Wex wallet.
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