Two individuals, Aleksej Besciokov and Aleksandr Serda, have been named by the U.S. Department of Justice in an indictment accusing them of using the cryptocurrency exchange Garantex to launder funds from illegal activities such as cybercrime and drug trafficking. The exchange is alleged to have received hundreds of millions of dollars in criminal proceeds and processed over $96 billion in cryptocurrency transactions since 2019. Besciokov and Serda are accused of conspiring to launder money, with Besciokov also facing charges for violating U.S. sanctions and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Prosecutors claim that Besciokov authorized transactions linked to the Lazarus Group, a hacking organization connected to North Korea, despite knowing they were criminal in nature. Garantex is said to have evaded U.S. sanctions and attempted to hide transactions by regularly changing crypto wallet addresses. The U.S. government has frozen over $26 million in digital assets associated with Garantex's money laundering operations. Garantex has suspended operations and warned users of scammers attempting to take advantage of the situation.



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