Three Russian Nationals Charged with Laundering Cryptocurrency for North Korean Hackers

Three Russian citizens have been charged with running cryptocurrency mixers that were used by cybercriminals to launder illicit funds, including those stolen by state-sponsored hacking groups.

According to the Justice Department, Roman Ostapenko, Alexander Oleynik, and Anton Tarasov are accused of operating two mixers, Blender.io and Sindbad.io, which enabled criminals to conceal the origin of their funds by mixing and pooling their assets.

The charges allege that these mixers became safe havens for money laundering by cryptocurrency scammers and cybercriminals, including hacker groups sponsored by states like the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

A grand jury has indicted three key individuals behind the Blender.io and Sindbad.io platforms, namely:

Roman Ostapenko, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and two counts of operating an unlicensed money transmission business.

Alexander Oleynik and Anton Tarasov are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business.

Roman Ostapenko and Alexander Oleynik were arrested on December 1, 2024, approximately one year after Sinbad.io’s online infrastructure was seized in a coordinated law enforcement action, while Anton Tarasov remains at large.

These services were sanctioned by the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which played a key role in this fight. Thus OFAC sanctioned Blender.io on May 6, 2022, citing its use by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to launder stolen currency. Following, OFAC sanctioned Sinbad.io, publicly citing its use by a DPRK state-sponsored hacking group and cybercriminals.

All the while, an FBI investigation was underway to tie up the whole scheme and find all the participants, and as Sean Burke, Acting Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, said:

“Last year, with the assistance of our international partners, we successfully dismantled Sinbad.io. However, we did not rest with this initial success. We maintained our focus on identifying the individuals responsible for its development and ensuring their accountability. These indictments serve as a testament to the power of international cooperation.”

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brent S. Wible, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, also commented extensively on this large and long case. Wible, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division:

“According to 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. By allegedly operating these mixers, the defendants made it easier for state-sponsored hacking groups and other cybercriminals to profit from offenses that jeopardized both public safety and national security. The indictment and arrests announced today, which follow the earlier takedown of the defendants’ criminal infrastructure, yet again demonstrate the value of our international partnerships in countering the global threat from cybercrime.”

This is not the first time we have seen blockchain technology and decentralized finance not only make regular people more free and safe. We also see how individual actors and entire states can use it for malicious purposes, contributing to disappointing statistics of Web3 cybercrime and cryptocurrency fraud.

Never let your guard down, be aware, and stay tuned.

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