Russian nationals charged with operating crypto mixers that masked cybercrime funds
Three Russian nationals were indicted this week for their roles in managing a pair of cryptocurrency mixing services, operations that were funded in part by money gained through ransomware attacks.
The indictment from a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Georgia alleges that Roman Vitalyevich Ostapenko, 55, Alexander Evgenievich Oleynik, 44, and Anton Vyachlavovich Tarasov, 32, were the men behind Blender.io and Sinbad.io, fee-based services that allowed users to send cryptocurrency to specific recipients while masking the source of the funds.
The Department of Justice said in a press release announcing the indictments that Blender.io and Sinbad.io were favored by criminals attempting to distance…
