Authorities in New York City are charging a Russian crypto executive with laundering more than half a billion dollars for Russian clients trying to evade US sanctions and acquire “sensitive US technology.”
Brooklyn resident Iurii Gugnin — also known as George Goognin and Iurii Mashukov — allegedly funneled a staggering $530 million in USDT ($1.00) payments, the Department of Justice said on Monday.
Gugnin is accused of using two crypto companies — Evita Pay and Evita Investments — as front operations to obscure the origins of customer funds. Most of the funds allegedly came from sanctioned Russian institutions like Sberbank, VTB, and Tinkoff.
Nuclear technology
Prosecutors also said that Gugnin helped purchase material destined for Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned nuclear technology company.
“The defendant is charged with turning a cryptocurrency company into a covert pipeline for dirty money,” Assistant Attorney General John A. Eisenberg said.
The 38-year old now faces a 22-count federal indictment accusing him of wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the US, violating the Bank Secrecy Act, and breaking sanctions imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Russia-Ukraine war
When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, countries in the West led by the US launched an unprecedented financial crackdown designed to isolate Moscow from the global economy.
Russian banks were cut off from SWIFT, the global messaging system that processes more than 80% of all international payments. Additionally, central bank assets were frozen, and entire Russian industries were blacklisted.
These sweeping sanctions made it nearly impossible for Russian entities to transact in dollars or even access Western banking infrastructure — pushing both illicit and legitimate actors to crypto rails to sidestep the financial blockade.
Search history
In fact, those sanctions may have helped prop up Bitcoin’s price in recent months, analysts from VanEck said.
According to authorities, Gugnin’s internet search history included phrases like “how to know if there is an investigation against you,” and “money laundering penalties US.”
If convicted, Gugnin faces decades in prison.
Pedro Solimano is a markets correspondent based in Buenos Aires. Got a tip? Email him at [email protected].
