The U.S. authorities has sanctioned a Russian nationwide for allegedly laundering tens of millions of {dollars} price of sufferer ransom funds on behalf of people linked to the infamous Ryuk ransomware group.
According to an announcement from the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Ekaterina Zhdanova, 37, is accused of utilizing digital foreign money change transfers and fraudulent accounts to launder cash for Russian elites, ransomware teams, and different dangerous actors to assist them evade financial sanctions imposed on Russia’s monetary system following the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Ryuk first emerged in 2018 and is thought for its assaults concentrating on the U.S. public sector. In 2020, in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the gang was linked to an assault on Universal Health Services, one of the most important healthcare suppliers within the U.S., costing the healthcare large at the least $67 million in misplaced earnings.
OFAC stated Zhdanova laundered greater than $2.3 million of “suspected victim payments” for a Ryuk ransomware affiliate in 2021. Zhdanova allegedly ran the illicit funds by cryptocurrency exchanges that lack anti-money laundering controls, together with the Russia-based Garantex change, which was the topic of U.S. sanctions in 2022.
Zhdanova additionally makes use of conventional companies to take care of entry to the worldwide monetary system, together with by a luxurious watch firm that has workplaces around the globe, based on OFAC. As per Chainalysis, a search of Zhdanova’s electronic mail deal with additionally reveals that she is at present promoting a 13-room resort in Moscow that “generates a profit of up to 1,000,000 rubles a month,” or about $11,000 on the time of writing — although it’s unclear the resort enterprise pertains to her alleged cash laundering exercise.
Ztoog despatched Zhdanova a number of WhatsApp and Signal messages through the cellphone quantity included on the itemizing, however didn’t hear again.
Zhdanova has additionally been accused of conducting digital foreign money change transfers on behalf of oligarchs who’ve relocated internationally. According to OFAC, a Russian oligarch sought out Zhdanova to maneuver over $100 million in wealth on their behalf to the United Arab Emirates, and she or he additionally helped comparable shoppers get hold of tax residency within the nation, in addition to identification playing cards and financial institution accounts based mostly in Dubai.
In February, the U.S. and U.Ok. governments levied sanctions towards seven people allegedly related to a single community behind the Conti and Ryuk ransomware variants, in addition to the notorious Trickbot banking trojan. The sanctions got here days after Russian citizen Denis Mihaqlovic Dubnikov, 30, pleaded responsible in a U.S. court docket to laundering Ryuk ransomware funds following his extradition from the Netherlands.