Russian crypto network exposed in Georgia amid sanctions pressure

Five Russians accused of processing at least $37 million in illegal crypto transactions as part of a money laundering operation have been arrested by police in Georgia.

Georgia’s Ministry of Finance revealed the arrests, made in coordination with the Georgian Prosecutor General’s Office, on Thursday.

The group allegedly ran a crypto transfer service in Georgia without registering with the country’s national bank and was accused of “legalizing illegal income.”

According to authorities, in the past few months, it’s processed crypto transactions worth hundreds of millions of Georgian Lila. One hundred million Lila is equal to about $37 million.

Users were also offered a “courier” service that would allegedly transport foreign currency across the border, dodging authorities, before converting the funds into crypto.

Read more: Has Garantex-linked Grinex dodged sanctions to move $6 billion?

Police reportedly seized $100,000 intended for the purchase of crypto, $250,000 from vehicles with Russian license plates, $371,000, accounting data, and computer equipment.

Neither the names of the individuals nor the company’s name were shared in the report. Those involved face a maximum of 12 years in prison.

Multi-billion-dollar Russian crypto money laundering networks have reportedly helped Russian Kleptocrats and UK drug gangs convert illicitly obtained funds into untraceable crypto.

The Kyrgyzstan-based exchange Grinex, with alleged ties to Russian trading platform Garantex, apparently managed to dodge US sanctions and move billions in crypto.

Garantex is accused of facilitating billions of dollars’ worth of illicit funds for large-scale criminal organizations. The financial network that has spun off from this enterprise has been subjected to an array of UK and US sanctions this year.