The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on Friday indicted three Russian nationals for their alleged involvement in operating the cryptocurrency mixing services Blender.io and Sinbad.io.
Roman Vitalyevich Ostapenko and Alexander Evgenievich Oleynik were arrested on December 1, 2024, in coordination with the Netherlands’ Financial Intelligence and Investigative Service, Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation, and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
It was not revealed from where they were apprehended. The third individual, Anton Vyachlavovich Tarasov, is still at large.
The defendants have been accused of operating cryptocurrency mixers (aka tumblers) that served as safe havens for “laundering criminally derived funds,” including the proceeds of ransomware and wire fraud, thereby allowing state-sponsored hacking groups and cybercriminals to profit off…
