India arrests the cryptographic administrator based in Russia sought by us

Authorities in India have arrested an administrator of cryptocurrency exchange sought by the United States for allegedly helping cybercriminals to wash money and violate sanctions.

Aleksej Besciokov, a Lithuanian citizen and Russian resident, was arrested in the southern state of Kerala on Tuesday, said India’s main investigation agency.

According to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), he was one of the Garantex administrators, an exchange of Russian cryptocurrencies, and was responsible for reviewing and approve of his transactions.

Besciokov is in custody and has not yet made a statement. Garantex could not be contacted immediately to comment.

Besciokov was “residing in Russia”, according to The accusation recently launched by the DOJAnd it is not clear when and why he came to India.

The Central Office of Investigation of India (CBI) said in a statement that issued a provisional arrest order against At Washington’s request.

Besciokov will now occur in a court in Delhi, he said. It is not clear when it will be extradited to the United States.

The United States, in coordination with Germany and Finland, had eliminated the online infrastructure used by guarantex, said the Department of Justice last week.

He added that Garantex processed at least $ 96 billion (£ 74.10 billion) in cryptocurrency transactions since 2019 and that it allegedly received hundreds of millions in criminal revenues, which were then used to “facilitate several crimes”, including piracy, ransomware, terrorism and drug trafficking.

The Department of Justice also accused the Lithuanian citizen of violating the sanctions and operating a “money transmission business without a license.”

Last week, US officials accused Besciokov along with the Russian co -founder of the Aleksandr’s exchange Mira Sueda with money laundering.

Garantex was sanctioned by the United States Department of the Treasury in 2022.

But shortly after, Besciokov and other administrators “redesigned” their operations to “evade sanctions” and induce US companies to work with them, said the Department of Justice.

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