The United States has charged three Russians for operating cryptocurrency mixers Blender.io and Sinbad.io.
Crypto mixers (also known as tumbler services) are platforms designed to anonymize cryptocurrency transactions. They operate by mixing funds sent by users with other transactions, making it difficult to trace their original source and final recipient.
Roman Ostapenko (55) and Alexander Oleynik (44) were arrested on December 1, 2024, while Anton Tarasov (32) remains at large.
If found guilty, the defendants face up to 20 years in prison for money laundering and up to 5 years for operating an unregistered money transfer service.
“Blender.io and Sinbad.io were allegedly used by criminals worldwide to launder funds stolen from ransomware victims, virtual currency thefts, and other crimes,” stated U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan.
Official statement: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/pr/operators-cryptocurrency-mixers-charged-money-laundering
…that’s why we recommend working only with white-hat services when it comes to crypto.
