ATLANTA — Three men have been indicted for providing Bitcoin concealment services used by criminals to launder stolen cryptocurrency.
Roman Vitalyevich Ostapenko, Alexander Evgenievich Oleynik, and Anton Vyachlavovich Tarasov were indicted by a federal grand jury for their involvement in operating two cryptocurrency mixing websites.
“Blender.io and Sinbad.io were allegedly used by criminals across the world to launder funds stolen from victims of ransomware, virtual currency thefts, and other crimes,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. “This indictment demonstrates our continued commitment to dismantling infrastructure used by cybercriminals to steal from Americans and hide their ill-gotten gains.”
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Blender.io and Sinbad.io were advertised on a popular internet forum as having a “no logs policy” and deleting any traces of user transactions.
The website did not require users to register, log in, or provide any information except the recipient’s address.
The Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said Blender.io laundered money for multiple ransomware groups.
Roman Vitalyevich Ostapenko, 55, of Russia, is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and two counts of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business.
Alexander Evgenievich Oleynik, 44, of Russia, and Anton Vyachlavovich Tarasov, 32, of Russia, are both charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business.
This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Ostapenko and Oleynik were arrested on December 1, 2024. Tarasov remains at large.
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