Court arrested one of the main defendants in the Cryptex cryptocurrency exchange case

Sergei Ivanov was detained until November 30, 2024. The publication clarified that the court considers him an organizer of a criminal community. Previously, Interfax reported that Ivanov was under US sanctions for money laundering.

On October 2, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case into illegal activities of the UAPS payment system and the Cryptex cryptocurrency exchange. Their defendants carried out illegal work exchanging currency, cryptocurrencies, delivering and accepting cash, selling bank cards and personal accounts, according to the Investigative Committee.

In addition to Ivanov, five more defendants in the case were detained, the publication clarifies. Almost 100 people are suspected under articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on organization of a criminal community, illegal access to computer information, illegal circulation of means of payment and illegal banking activities.

According to the investigation, in 2023 the services of the criminal community received a cash volume of more than 112 billion and criminal income amounted to 3.7 billion rubles.

On October 3, the Investigative Committee announced the seizure of more than 1.5 billion rubles during searches in St. Petersburg within the framework of the criminal case against UAPS and Cryptex. Investigators discovered that the defendants own Robinson helicopters, Bentley cars, Rolls-Royce, Porsche, Tesla Cybertruck, boats, snowmobiles and cash.