https://benchmarkbeat.com/tech/we-accuse-russians-of-using-crypto-groups-to-acquire-delicate-techniques/

US prosecutors have allegedly charged cryptocurrency entrepreneurs with avoiding sanctions and violations of export controls, washing over $500 million, and helping Russians acquire sensitive US technology.

Iurii Ggnin, founder of Crypto Payments Company Evita, was charged with wire and bank fraud, money laundering and other crimes on Monday, according to court documents sealed in federal court in Brooklyn. He was arrested and arrested in New York, the Justice Department said.

According to prosecutors, Gugnin used his crypto payments company to pay on behalf of foreign customers of sensitive US electronics, including American-designed servers subject to export control, and also washed funds to buy parts from the Russian state-run nuclear technology company Rosatom.

“Ginin came to the US and set up money laundering operations under the guise of a cryptocurrency startup. It was circumventing sanctions and export controls and fraudulent US financial institutions,” lawyer Joseph Nosera said in a statement.

In a letter to a New York judge on Monday, the prosecutor said Gignin “has ties with Russian and Iranian government officials who can help promote flights from prosecutors, including members of the Russian intelligence reporting agency.”

Representatives of Gugnin did not immediately respond to requests for comment.