The U.S. Treasury Department and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on a Russian businesswoman on November 3.
The agency said Russian citizen Ekaterina Zhdanova helped the country’s elites launder and move money using virtual currencies and other methods.
The Finance Ministry said Zhdanova used virtual currencies to conduct large cross-border transactions. Specifically, it said that Zhdanova was asked by a Russian oligarch to move more than $100 million to the United Arab Emirates. Zhdanova was also involved in setting up a tax service for Russian clients in the United Arab Emirates, involving payments in both cash and virtual currencies.
The agency added that Zhdanova laundered $2.3 million for a subsidiary of Russian ransomware group Ryuk, which typically relies on crypto payments. The Ministry of Finance believes that the money came as payment from ransomware victims.
The Treasury Department said Zhdanova relies on services that don’t have AML/CFT controls, including a Russian crypto exchange called Garantex, itself designated in 2022.
The Treasury Department suggested that Zhdanova additionally moves money through other traditional, non-cryptocurrency means, including cash, connections to other money launderers and a luxury watch company. In March 2022, she helped a Russian client embezzle and move more than $2.3 million to Western Europe through a fraudulently opened investment account and real estate purchase.
Sanctions prohibit most transactions
Current sanctions block most transactions between Zhdanova and financial institutions or individuals. The sanctions also block the transfer of Zhdanova’s assets owned by a US entity; furthermore, it requires that such properties be reported to OFAC.
While the sanctions apply to a variety of funds and properties, an attached page lists three Bitcoin addresses belonging to Zhdanova that are now restricted.
OFAC has sanctioned numerous other Russia-linked entities, with many of those sanctions introduced in the wake of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Other notable sanctions targeted Russian mining company Bitriver and members of a Dubai-based company called Huriya Private . Chainalysis maintains a list of other recent sanctions.