Vasily Zhabykin, co-founder of the US-sanctioned cryptocurrency exchange Suex, has been fired from his post as a top executive at MTS’s neobank NUUM, according to сообщает Kommersant.
A bank insider familiar with the situation told the publication that the project “was not connected with the personality of the executive” and that the dismissal was driven solely by U.S. sanctions. Zhabykin himself did not comment on his departure.
The day before, another Suex co-founder, Yegor Petukhovsky, posted on his Facebook page that he was stepping down from the founders of the Telegram bot for cryptocurrency exchange Chatex. He intends to defend his business reputation in an American court.
Kommersant also found that the nationwide organisation StopNarcotics appealed to the heads of the Central Bank of Russia and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to check Suex’s partners and block their illegal transactions.
Activists pointed to connections between the exchanger and the EXMO exchange, the QIWI group of companies and the Ukrainian bank Concord.
According to the organisation’s investigation, cited by the publication, Suex was involved in laundering funds for the Hydra dark-net market, the turnover of which in Russia amounts to at least $1.5 billion per year.
Maria Stankevich, EXMO’s head of development, told ForkLog that there is no link between the exchange and Suex. She emphasised that Yegor Petukhovsky is not a co-founder of EXMO, never participated in the company’s management, and has no familial ties to EXMO founder Ivan Petukhovsky. Stankevich also denies any link between EXMO and Concord Bank.
Representatives of EXMO sent a complaint to StopNarcotics for spreading information that harms their business reputation, and are prepared to prove their case in court.
Earlier in ForkLog’s interview, Maria Stankevich confirmed that first exchanges Suex made on EXMO, “but quickly stopped doing so”.
QIWI told ForkLog that information about links with Suex and EXMO is not accurate. The company does not cooperate with Ukrainian banks.
“QIWI operates within Russian law and does not engage in the activity noted in the appeal”, said a company spokesman.
The Concord Bank, in a comment to ForkLog, also called the information about their ties with Suex unreliable.
“This publication is an attempt to wage an information attack on ConcordBank, the aim of which is blackmail, extortion and damage to the bank’s business reputation”, said a bank spokesman.
As noted, on September 21 the U.S. Treasury added to the sanctions list the legal entities and the website of the Suex exchange, as well as 25 addresses on the Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether networks.
The agency claims that through the platform funds were processed for operators of at least eight ransomware programs, scam projects, dark-net marketplaces and the now-defunct BTC-e exchange.
Analytical company Chainalysis found that among other things, Suex processed transactions of the WEX exchange worth several million dollars.
Analysts involved in the investigation estimated that assets tied to cybercriminals accounted for up to 40% of Suex’s turnover.
Subscribe to ForkLog’s news on Telegram: ForkLog Feed — full news coverage, ForkLog — the most important news, infographics and opinions.