U.S. hits Russian crypto exchange with sanctions and bounty originally appeared on TheStreet .
The Departments of State and the Treasury went after Garantex, a Russian-operated crypto exchange, on Aug. 14. The exchange is used by a wide variety of cybercriminals and cybercrime organizations for money laundering, the authorities claimed.
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the crypto exchange for allegedly processing over $100 million in transactions linked to illicit activities since 2019. OFAC is also targeting executives and companies associated with the exchange. The Office is also designating Garantex's successor, Grinex.
The Department of State's Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program (TOCRP) is offering two rewards totaling up to $6 million for information that can lead to the arrests or convictions of Garantex leaders.
Authorities said that as per the U.S. Secret Service and FBI, Garantex received hundreds of millions in criminal proceeds, which were used to facilitate crimes, including hacking, ransomware, terrorism, and drug trafficking. Oftentimes, U.S. victims suffered substantial harm, they claimed.
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The OFAC sanctioned Garantex in April 2022 for violating anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) norms. The European Union also sanctioned the exchange in February 2025.
In March this year, the Department of Justice unsealed an indictment against two Garantex administrators, Aleksej Besciokov and Aleksandr Mira Serda, for money laundering. Within a few days, the Indian police arrested Besciokov.
The latest action comes ahead of the Alaska summit on Aug. 15, in which U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet to discuss the war in Ukraine that has been going on since 2022.
U.S. hits Russian crypto exchange with sanctions and bounty first appeared on TheStreet on Aug 14, 2025
This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Aug 14, 2025, where it first appeared.
