A coalition of international law enforcement has shut down Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex, a favorite of now-defunct ransomware crew Conti and others criminals for money laundering.
“The US Secret Service has seized website domains associated with the administration and operation of Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex as part of an ongoing investigation,” Nate Herring, a spokesperson for the service, told The Register. “We are unable to provide additional comments at this time and will release additional information when available.”
A notice on the now-confiscated Garantex website says the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia obtained a seizure warrant for the domain, which allowed the cops to shut it down, and credits the several law enforcement agencies for the coordinated action.
In addition to the US Secret Service, the US Department of Justice, the FBI, Europol, the Dutch National Police, the German Federal Criminal Police Office, the Frankfurt General Prosecutor’s Office, the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation, and the Estonian National Criminal Police all had a hand in the swoop.
Russia no longer a cyber threat to America, or what?
The US sanctioned Garantex in April 2022, and at the time linked more than $100 million in transactions on the exchange to criminals and dark web markets. This included nearly $6 million from Russian ransomware-as-a-service gang Conti and about $2.6 million from online drugs souk Hydra, which was shut down by US and German law enforcement at the same time.
And last month, the European Union imposed sanctions on Garantex, which it accused of making life easier for Russian banks to evade EU sanctions. ®