Reports have emerged indicating that one of the individuals involved in the sanctioned Russian cryptocurrency platform Garantex was apprehended in India on Tuesday.
Aleksej Besciokov, a 46-year-old Lithuanian national residing in Russia, was reportedly taken into custody by authorities in Kerala while enjoying a vacation on the southern coast of India with his family.
In the previous week, a collaborative effort by international law enforcement agencies from the United States, Germany, and Finland led to the seizure of Garantex’s domains and servers, as well as the freezing of nearly $28 million in cryptocurrency linked to the platform, aided by the stablecoin issuer Tether. The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) had sanctioned the exchange in 2022 for its active role in facilitating money laundering for ransomware groups such as Conti and Black Basta, as well as darknet markets like Hydra, which was the world’s largest market before its closure in 2022.
Beyond allegations of aiding money laundering for cybercriminals, including North Korea’s Lazarus Group, which was responsible for the significant $1.5 billion theft from Bybit last month, Garantex has been accused of playing a substantial part in evading sanctions. High-end sanctions evasion services, like TGR Group, catering to Russian oligarchs, have also been linked to the exchange.
In tandem with the seizure, U.S. prosecutors have charged Besciokov and another Garantex operator, Aleksandr Mira Serda, a 40-year-old residing in the United Arab Emirates, with conspiring to launder money. Besciokov is currently featured on the U.S. Secret Service’s Most Wanted list.
Neither the Kerala police nor the U.S. Department of Justice responded to inquiries regarding Besciokov’s reported arrest.