The United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control added two cryptocurrency wallets allegedly connected to a Russian sanctions evasion network as part of its list of Specially Designated Citizens.
In a Feb. 1 announcement, OFAC said it had added a Bitcoin (BTC) address and an Ether (ETH) address to its list of sanctioned entities as part of a move to “methodically and intensively target security efforts.” sanctions evasion around the world. The Treasury said it would place “full lockdown sanctions” on 22 people, including Jonatan Zimenkov, a Russian citizen with access to at least one BTC wallet and one ETH wallet.
According to the US Treasury, Jonatan is the son of arms dealer Igor Vladimirovich Zimenkov, who runs the sanctions evasion ring. The group was allegedly behind the supply of technology to a Russian company following the country’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, as well as supporting certain “sanctioned state-owned Russian defense entities”, including Rosoboroneksport and Rostec.
“Igor Zimenkov was designated pursuant to EO 14024 for operating or having operated in the defense and related materiel sector of the economy of the Russian Federation,” OFAC said. “Jonatan Zimenkov was also designated pursuant to EO 14024 as having materially aided, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support, or goods or services to or in support of Igor Zimenkov.”
Treasury is taking further action as part of the US strategy to methodically and aggressively attack Russia’s sanctions evasion efforts around the world, and to make it more difficult and costly for Russia’s military-industrial complex. Russia resupply Putin’s war machine. https://t.co/q7a6DIxhZg
— Under Secretary Wally Adeyemo (@TreasuryDepSec) February 1, 2023
The BTC address provided by the Treasury showed no balance at press time. The ETH address also contained no tokens, but showed four transactions totaling approximately 5,463 ETH in early 2022, more than $16 million at the time.
Related: Kraken Settles With US Treasury OFAC Over ‘Apparent’ Sanctions Violations
The US Treasury appears to have stepped up efforts to include crypto wallets in its sanctions efforts. The government department effectively banned US residents from using the controversial Tornado Cash mixer, an action that later sparked lawsuits from crypto advocacy groups and investors.
This post US Treasury lists BTC and ETH addresses linked to Russia’s sanctions evasion group
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