US widens sanctions on Russian crypto exchange Garantex, its successor and affiliate firms
U.S. officials imposed sanctions Thursday on Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex, its successor Grinex, and related affiliates, while also targeting its leaders for arrest with financial rewards. These measures are part of intensified efforts to halt the flow of ransomware proceeds facilitated by the platforms.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control re-designated Garantex for sanctions, accusing its operators of processing more than $100 million in illicit transactions since 2019. The State Department announced financial rewards totaling up to $6 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Garantex’s leaders, including up to $5 million for Russian national Aleksandr Mira Serda, the exchange’s co-founder and chief commercial officer.
Authorities expanded their targeting of Garantex, its leaders and associated companies following a sweeping international law enforcement operation in March when officials seized three domains linked to the exchange, confiscated servers, froze more than $26 million in cryptocurrency and indicted its leaders.
One of those leaders, Aleksej Besciokov, was arrested in March while on vacation in India shortly after the Justice Department unsealed indictments against him and Mira Serda, officials said. OFAC also imposed sanctions on Sergey Mendelev, co-founder of Garantex, and Pavel Karavatsky, co-owner and regional director of Garantex.
“According to the U.S. Secret Service and FBI, Garantex received hundreds of millions in criminal proceeds and was used to facilitate various crimes, including hacking, ransomware, terrorism, and drug trafficking, often with substantial harm to U.S. victims,” Tammy Bruce, spokesperson for the State Department, said in a statement Thursday. “Between April 2019 and March 2025, Garantex processed at least $96 billion in cryptocurrency transactions.”
Before Garantex moved its operations and funds to Grinex following the globally coordinated law enforcement disruption, the exchange received millions of dollars in cryptocurrency from Russia-linked ransomware affiliates. Officials traced those transactions to Conti, Black Basta, LockBit, Ryuk, NetWalker and Phoenix Cryptolocker.
Grinex, which was created to avoid the sanctions placed on Garantex, has since facilitated the transfer of billions of dollars in cryptocurrency transactions, the Treasury Department said. The Treasury Department’s OFAC initially sanctioned Garatex in April 2022.
OFAC sanctioned six additional organizations Thursday, including A7, A7 Agent, Old Vector, InDeFi Bank and Exved for their alleged involvement with and material support of Garantex and Grinex.
“Exploiting cryptocurrency exchanges to launder money and facilitate ransomware attacks not only threatens our national security, but also tarnishes the reputations of legitimate virtual asset service providers,” John K. Hurley, under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement. “By exposing these malicious actors, Treasury remains committed to and supportive of the digital asset industry’s integrity.”
