Signage is seen astatine the United States Department of Justice office successful Washington, D.C., August 29, 2020.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters
Federal prosecutors successful Brooklyn person charged the laminitis of a U.S.-based cryptocurrency payments steadfast with operating what they allege was a blase planetary wealth laundering strategy that moved implicit fractional a cardinal dollars connected behalf of sanctioned Russian banks and different entities.
Iurii Gugnin, a 38-year-old Russian nationalist surviving successful Manhattan, was arrested and arraigned Monday and ordered held without bail pending trial.
Gugnin faces a 22-count indictment accusing him of ligament and slope fraud, violating U.S. sanctions and export controls, wealth laundering, and failing to instrumentality legally required anti-money laundering protocols.
"The suspect is charged with turning a cryptocurrency institution into a covert pipeline for soiled money, moving implicit fractional a cardinal dollars done the U.S. fiscal strategy to assistance sanctioned Russian banks and assistance Russian end-users get delicate U.S. technology," Assistant Attorney General Eisenberg said successful a statement.
Prosecutors said Gugnin utilized his companies — Evita Investments and Evita Pay — to process astir $530 cardinal successful payments portion concealing the origins and purposes of the funds. Between June 2023 and January 2025, helium allegedly funneled the wealth done U.S. banks and cryptocurrency exchanges, chiefly utilizing tether, a wide used, dollar-pegged stablecoin.
Clients included individuals and businesses linked to sanctioned Russian institutions specified arsenic Sberbank, VTB Bank, Sovcombank, Tinkoff, and the state-owned atomic vigor steadfast Rosatom.
To transportation retired the scheme, Gugnin allegedly misrepresented the scope of his business, falsified compliance documentation, and lied to banks and integer plus platforms astir his ties to Russia. Prosecutors accidental helium masked the root of funds done ammunition accounts and doctored much than 80 invoices, digitally erasing the identities of Russian counterparties.
Investigators besides mention net searches indicating helium knew helium was nether scrutiny, including queries similar "how to cognize if determination is an probe against you" and "money laundering penalties US."
The Justice Department said Gugnin maintained nonstop ties to members of Russia's quality work and officials successful Iran — countries that bash not extradite to the U.S.
He is besides accused of helping the export of delicate U.S. exertion to Russian clients, including an anti-terrorism-controlled server.
Gugnin was profiled past autumn successful a Wall Street Journal article astir high-net-worth renters successful Manhattan, wherever helium reportedly paid $19,000 per period for an apartment.
If convicted connected slope fraud charges, helium faces a statutory maximum condemnation of 30 years successful prison, but if convicted connected each counts, Gugnin could beryllium fixed a consecutive maximum condemnation importantly longer than his lifetime.
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