The U.S. has taken significant action against a Russian cryptocurrency exchange, seizing $26 million in crypto assets and charging two of its administrators with money laundering. Court documents unsealed on Friday revealed that the U.S. Secret Service had seized the website of Garantex, a Moscow-based exchange allegedly operated by Aleksej Besciokov and Aleksandr Mira Serda.
According to the Justice Department, Garantex processed $96 billion in crypto transactions between 2019 and 2025, facilitating illicit activities such as ransomware, computer hacking, narcotics transactions, and sanctions violations. The exchange also allegedly misled law enforcement about its customers' identities and allowed accounts linked to North Korean cyber threat actors.
Michael Centrella, assistant director of the Secret Service's Office of Field Operations, stated that the seizure and freezing of assets deal a serious blow to cybercriminals worldwide. The indictment further revealed that Besciokov and his co-conspirators redesigned Garantex's operations to evade U.S. sanctions, moving cryptocurrency wallets frequently to avoid detection.
Garantex had been under U.S. sanctions since at least 2022. The administrators also allegedly took steps to conceal themselves from Russian law enforcement, according to court records.