Two Russian nationals indicted for servicing millions of dollars in cybercrime funds

The U.S. government on Thursday announced sweeping actions against two Russian nationals for their alleged role in facilitating all manner of cybercrime through money laundering and operating multiple payment and exchanges services used by criminals. 

Sergey Ivanov, known online as “Taleon,” and Timur Shakhmametov, known as both “JokerStash” and “Vega,” facilitated money laundering tied to darknet drug trafficking and ransomware, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. 

Ivanov created and operated Russian payment exchange services UAPS, PinPays and PM2BTC, which collectively facilitated tens of millions of dollars in financial activity linked to fraud, ransomware and darknet drug markets, the agency said.

Ivanov was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit and aid and abet bank fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was also sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Shakhmametov operated the Joker’s Stash carding website, according to the DOJ, which offered for sale data from approximately 40 million payment cards annually, totalling hundreds of millions of payment cards overall. Per the DOJ, that made it “one of the largest known carding markets in history,” generating estimated profits of between $280 million to more than $1 billion. 

Shakhmametov was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit and aid and abet bank fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, the DOJ said.

The U.S. Secret Service obtained court authorization to seize domains associated with UAPS and PM2BTC websites, the DOJ noted.

Separately, the U.S. State Department announced Thursday rewards of up to $10 million each for information leading to the arrests of Ivanov and Shakhmametov, as well as $1 million each for information related to other leaders of Joker’s Stash, UAPS, PM2BTC and PinPays.

The U.S. Secret Service also seized two domains associated with the cryptocurrency exchange Cryptex.net, which offered users the ability to register for accounts without requiring the standard know-your-customer requirements, the DOJ said. Cryptex has been linkd to more than 37,500 transactions involving bitcoin addresses, the agency added, with about 31% ($441 million) originating from cryptocurrency addresses tied to criminal conduct. 

Dutch authorities seized servers associated with Cryptex and PM2BTC, the DOJ said, and Cryptex was also sanctioned in the U.S.