The US Department of Justice accused the Russians of money laundering using cryptocurrencies

The US Department of Justice convicted five Russian citizens and two Venezuelans of money laundering and evasionfrom economic sanctions.

The accused worked for the oligarchs and manageda complex scheme to illegally purchase US military technology and sanctioned Venezuelan oil, involving countless transactions with shell companies and digital assets. Their actions undermined security, economic stability and the rule of law in the world, as stated in a press release from the US Department of Justice.

Responsibility for multi-million dollar fraudassigned to Yuri Orekhov, Artyom Uss, Svetlana Kuzurgasheva, Timofey Telegin and Sergey Tulyakov. According to the investigation, they were engaged in the smuggling of energy carriers and the legalization of profits obtained illegally. Venezuelans Juan Ponce and Juan Soto allegedly acted as intermediaries between the Russians and the state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela.

By order of American law enforcementOn October 17, Orekhov was arrested in Germany, and Artyom Uss, who turned out to be the son of the governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Alexander Uss, was detained in Italy. The men will soon be deported to the United States, where they will face federal court in New York. The whereabouts and fate of the other defendants in the criminal case have not yet been reported. They face liability in the form of imprisonment for up to 30 years.

Artyom Uss

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