Indian authorities arrested cryptocurrency exchange administrators in the United States for suspected assistance to cybercriminals to launder money and violate sanctions.
Lithuanian citizen and Russian resident Aleksej Besciokov was arrested in southern Kerala on Tuesday, the best Investigation Bureau of India said.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), he is one of the administrators of the Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex, who is responsible for reviewing and approving its transactions.
Besciokov was detained and no statement has been issued. Garantex cannot be contacted immediately for comment.
Besciokov The Ministry of Justice recently issued an indictmentit is not clear when and why he came to India.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said in a statement Issuing temporary arrest Guaranteed him At the request of Washington.
It said Beskokov will now be produced in a court in Delhi. It is not clear when he was extradited to the United States.
The U.S. coordination with Germany and Finland canceled the online infrastructure used by Garantex, the U.S. Department of Justice said last week.
It added that Garantex has conducted at least $96 billion (£74.1 billion) in cryptocurrency transactions since 2019, and it allegedly received hundreds of millions of dollars in criminal proceeds that were then used to “promote several crimes”, including hacking, ransomware, terrorism, terrorism and drug dealings.
The Ministry of Justice also accused Lithuanian nationals of violating sanctions and operating “unlicensed currency transmission business.”
Last week, U.S. officials joined the exchange’s Russian co-founder Aleksandr Mira Serda for accusing Besciokov of money laundering.
Garantex was approved by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2022.
But soon after, Beskokov and other managers “redesigned” their businesses to “evade sanctions” and lured American businesses to work with them.
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