Britain announced the liquidation of a Russian criminal network that laundered money through cryptocurrencies

According to the NCA, the network operated in Europe, the Middle East and South America, moving money for sanctioned oligarchs, spies and criminal gangs. It operated as an illegal clearinghouse that received cash in one country and provided an equivalent amount in another.

In the center of one of the cells, according to the NCA statement, was the Russian Ekaterina Zhdanova, 38 years old. In 2023, it was sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury. The department accused Zhdanova of helping representatives of the “Russian elite” withdraw millions of dollars by evading sanctions. Now the Russian is detained in France accused of another case, Bloomberg writes.

Zhdanova ran the company Smart, which used the Tether stablecoin to launder clients’ money. The NCA noted that the Tether USDT token, whose value is pegged to the dollar, was particularly attractive to criminals as it provided greater stability compared to other digital currencies. Among Smart’s clients, according to UK authorities, was the Russian government-funded television channel RT.

The second participant in the scheme was TGR, with offices in London and Dubai. She collaborated with Smart, receiving large sums of cash on behalf of Zhdanova, the NCA said. TGR leaders George Russia, Elena Chirkinyan and Andrejs Bradens were sanctioned on Wednesday, December 4, by the US Treasury.

NCA chief Rob Jones said the agency “for the first time managed to establish a link between Russian elites and cryptocurrency cybercriminals.” “The thread that unites them in the person of Smart and TGR remains invisible until now,” he emphasized.

The NCA said Smart and TGR regularly interacted with crypto exchange Garantex, which was sanctioned by the UK and US in 2022 for allegedly making payments for weapons components used by Russia in Ukraine.