The US and Europe jointly shut down the cryptocurrency exchange Garantex, suspected of illegal transactions worth hundreds of billions of dollars

U.S. and European authorities have shut down Moscow-based cryptocurrency exchange Garantex, accusing it of processing nearly $100 billion in transactions, a significant portion of which allegedly served criminal and terrorist organizations. Despite Western attempts to isolate Russia's financial system, the exchange remains an important conduit for Russians to move money in and out.

Despite being sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2022, Garantex's business continues to thrive. Its client base includes oligarch intermediaries, weapons importers, ransomware organizations, and drug trafficking gangs.

The Department of Justice, in cooperation with Germany and Finland, today took action to disrupt and shut down the online infrastructure that operated Garantex. The cryptocurrency exchange was accused of facilitating money laundering for transnational criminal organizations, including terrorist organizations, and violating sanctions. Garantex has reportedly processed at least $96 billion in cryptocurrency transactions since April 2019.

On March 6, U.S. law enforcement, led by the U.S. Secret Service (USSS), executed a seizure warrant authorized by a judge in the Eastern District of Virginia, seizing three website domains used to support Garantex operations. According to court records disclosed today, Garantex.org, Garantex.io, and Garantex.academy are associated with the management and operations of Garantex. The seizure of these domains will prevent these sites from being used for money laundering and further criminal activity. People who visit these sites will now see a message stating that the site has been seized by law enforcement.

As part of a coordinated action, German and Finnish law enforcement seized servers hosting Garantex operations. U.S. law enforcement had previously separately seized copies of Garantex servers, including customer and accounting databases. In addition, U.S. law enforcement has frozen more than $26 million in funds used to facilitate Garantex's money laundering activities.