The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Department of Justice added to the sanctions list the addresses of the Chatex Telegram bot for cryptocurrency exchange, as well as affiliated entities Izibits OÜ, Chatextech SIA and Hightrade Finance Ltd.
According to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), more than half of Chatex’s confirmed transactions are directly linked to illicit or high-risk activity, in particular the operations of ransomware operators.
OFAC pointed to a direct link between Chatex and the Russian exchange Suex, sanctioned at the end of September. A co-founder of both companies is Russian Egor Petukhovsky.
«Chatex has been added to the sanctions list for providing material support to Suex and for threats emanating from criminal ransomware operators. Izibits OÜ, Chatextech SIA and Hightrade Finance Ltd provided material support to Chatex and supplied the infrastructure for the operation of the exchange», the Office said.
Chainalysis found that, since September 2018, Chatex has processed Bitcoin transactions totaling at least $77.5 million, including more than $17 million in criminal assets, including funds from the darknet marketplace Hydra, scam projects Finiko, QubitTech.ai and others, and operators of several ransomware programs.
30 cryptocurrency addresses of Chatex in the Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether and Ripple networks were added to the sanctions list.
The owner and operator of Chatex is Izibits OÜ. Estonia’s Financial Intelligence Unit has already revoked its license as a virtual asset service provider.
Latvia’s authorities suspended the operations of Chatextech SIA and fined it for breaches of company registration and business conduct laws.
Hightrade Finance Ltd., registered in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, is mentioned in the Chatex Terms of Use as a legal entity.
Sanctions were also imposed on Russian Evgeny Polyanin and Ukrainian Yaroslav Vasinsky, accused of cooperating with the Sodinokibi/REvil gang.
On 21 September, OFAC added to the sanctions list the legal entities and the operator site of the Suex exchange, as well as 25 addresses associated with it across the Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether networks.
According to the agency, Vasinsky participated in attacks against at least nine American companies, including the Kaseya software developer in July 2021. The Ukrainian was arrested in Poland, and bitcoins totaling $6.1 million were seized from him. He is currently awaiting extradition to the United States.
The Polyanin company, responsible for extortion of U.S. government agencies and private-sector companies, was added to the OFAC list.
The FBI has issued a wanted notice for Russian Yevgeny Igoryevich Polyanin. American authorities believe he is in Barnaul.
To the addresses of Polyanin listed in the sanctions, more than $11.5 million in Bitcoin and over $2 million in USDT were sent. Vasinsky’s Bitcoin wallets processed transactions totaling more than $900,000.
The U.S. State Department has offered a $10 million reward for information leading to the capture of the leaders of the Sodinokibi/REvil group.
OFAC blocked any property of the listed individuals and entities within U.S. borders. U.S. residents and citizens are prohibited from dealing with them under penalty of fines or imprisonment.
ForkLog has sought comment from Chatex representatives.
On 21 September, OFAC added to the sanctions list the legal entities and the operator site of the Suex exchange, as well as 25 addresses associated with it across the Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether networks.
The U.S. Treasury says that through Suex funds for operators of at least eight ransomware programs, scam projects, darknet marketplaces and the now-defunct BTC-e exchange passed. Among other things, Suex processed WEX exchange transactions worth several million dollars.
Analysts participating in the investigation estimated that cybercrime-linked assets accounted for as much as 40% of Suex’s turnover.
During the proceedings against Suex, Egor Petukhovsky left the shareholders and employees of Chatex. He denied the charges of involvement in illegal activity.
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