US Charges 3 Russian Nationals With Operating Sanctioned Crypto Mixing Services

An indictment was unsealed on Jan. 7 charging three Russian nationals for their role in a scheme to operate the "cryptocurrency mixing services" Blender.io and Sinbad.io, both of which have been sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, DOJ announced.

Two of the defendants, Roman Vitalyevich Ostapenko and Alexander Evgenievich Oleynik, were arrested around one year after Sinbad.io's online infrastructure was seized, while the third defendant, Anton Vyachlavovich Tarasov, remains at large, DOJ said. All three defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering. OFAC sanctioned Blender.io in 2022 and Sinbad.io in 2023 for being used by cyber hacking groups tied to the North Korean government (see 2311290032).