Arrest of Garantex Operator in India

One of the operators of the sanctioned Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex was arrested in India on Tuesday, according to two recent news reports.

Arrest Details

Aleksej Besciokov, a 46-year-old Lithuanian national and Russian resident, was reportedly arrested by police in Kerala while vacationing on the southern coast of India with his family, according to Techcrunch and KrebsonSecurity.

Background on Garantex

Last week, a coalition of international law enforcement agencies from the U.S., Germany, and Finland seized Garantex’s domains and servers, freezing nearly $28 million in cryptocurrency tied to the exchange with the assistance of the stablecoin issuer Tether. The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) sanctioned Garantex in 2022 for knowingly facilitating money laundering for ransomware groups, including Conti and Black Basta, and darknet markets like Hydra, the world’s largest before its 2022 closure.

Criminal Activities

In addition to allegations of money laundering for various criminals, including North Korea’s Lazarus Group—responsible for the recent $1.5 billion Bybit heist—Garantex has also been implicated in sanctions evasion, with ties to upscale services like TGR Group, which serves Russian oligarchs.

Legal Consequences

Alongside the seizure, U.S. prosecutors charged Besciokov and another Garantex operator, 40-year-old Aleksandr Mira Serda from the UAE, with conspiracy to launder money. Besciokov is currently on the U.S. Secret Service’s Most Wanted list.

Comments

Neither the Kerala police nor the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) have responded to CoinDesk’s request for comments on Besciokov’s reported arrest.