{"id":86585,"date":"2023-11-03T18:45:52","date_gmt":"2023-11-03T16:45:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=86585"},"modified":"2025-09-13T06:30:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T03:30:11","slug":"russian-woman-sanctioned-by-us-for-aiding-oligarchs-with-cryptocurrency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/russian-woman-sanctioned-by-us-for-aiding-oligarchs-with-cryptocurrency\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian woman sanctioned by US for aiding oligarchs with cryptocurrency"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Treasury&#8217;s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on Russian national Ekaterina Zhdanova. According to authorities, she helped members of the Russian elite circumvent international restrictions using cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Ekaterina Zhdanova is a Russian national who has been using virtual currency to launder and move millions of dollars for Russian oligarchs and cybercriminals. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/USTreasury?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ustreasury<\/a> is imposing sanctions to cut off her access to the international financial system. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/d3e9z0aKEo\">https:\/\/t.co\/d3e9z0aKEo<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Under Secretary Brian Nelson (@UnderSecTFI) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UnderSecTFI\/status\/1720453899574755376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 3, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>OFAC explained that the Russian national assisted individuals in Russia in gaining access to Western financial markets, and, via virtual currency, facilitated cross-border transfers. In particular, in March 2022 Zhdanova helped a Russian client mask the source of his wealth in order to move more than $2.3 million to Europe through an investment account and the purchase of real estate.<\/p>\n<p>According to authorities, she used entities without <span data-descr=\"anti-money laundering\" class=\"old_tooltip\">AML<\/span>\/<span data-descr=\"counter-terrorist financing\" class=\"old_tooltip\">CFT<\/span>-procedures, for example <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/hydra-and-the-garantex-cryptocurrency-exchange-sanctioned-by-the-united-states\">sanctioned<\/a> Garantex.<\/p>\n<p>OFAC, authorities say, she employed several methods to move funds: cash and connections with international partners and organisations involved in money laundering.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u00abZhdanova also uses traditional business to access the international financial system, including via a luxury watchmaking company with offices worldwide\u00bb, the document states.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The authorities believe the Russian national conducts crypto-exchange operations on behalf of oligarchs who have relocated abroad:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u00abIn one case a Russian oligarch tracked down Zhdanova to move his wealth totaling more than $100 million to the United Arab Emirates on his behalf. In addition, Zhdanova helped provide UAE tax residency to Russian clients and perhaps participated in concealing their identities\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Russian national provided services to people linked to the Ryuk ransomware operator, according to OFAC. The agency said she \u00ablaundered more than $2.3 million\u00bb.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, Transparency International Russia <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/report-moscow-city-exchanges-help-cash-out-usdt-in-the-united-kingdom\">found<\/a> that exchanges in Moscow-City help Russians launder USDT in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n<p>The media also reported on Russians circumventing sanctions through <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/media-report-russians-sanctions-busting-via-crypto-firms-in-estonia-and-lithuania\">crypto firms in Estonia and Lithuania<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier in October, it was reported that Russian citizens <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/report-russians-buy-wirex-accounts-on-the-dark-web-for-crypto-operations-in-the-eu\">were buying on the dark web<\/a> verified accounts of the British payment-processing service Wirex for crypto operations in the EU.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Treasury&#8217;s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on Russian national Ekaterina Zhdanova.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":86586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1332,27,686,26],"class_list":["post-86585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-ofac","tag-russia","tag-sanctions","tag-usa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"27","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86585"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86587,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86585\/revisions\/86587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}