Garantex Operator Alexey Beschokov Detained in India: Report
Beschokov is suspected of conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to violate sanctions, and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmission business.
Cheyenne Ligon | Edited by Nikhilesh De , 12 Mar 2025 17:54 UTC
Key facts:
- According to information, one of the operators of the sanctioned Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex was detained in India.
- Last week, international law enforcement agencies seized Garantex servers and domains and froze $28 million in crypto assets.
- In 2022, the exchange was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for providing services to ransomware groups and darknet markets.
According to the latest news reports, one of the operators of the sanctioned Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex was arrested in India on Tuesday.
According to Techcrunch and KrebsonSecurity, 46-year-old Alexey Beschokov, a Lithuanian citizen and Russian resident, was detained by police in the Indian state of Kerala while on vacation on the country's southern coast with his family.
Last week, an international coalition of law enforcement agencies from the United States, Germany, and Finland seized Garantex domains and servers and froze about $28 million in cryptocurrency associated with the exchange, backed by stablecoin issuer Tether. The exchange was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in 2022 for knowingly facilitating money laundering for ransomware criminals including Conti and Black Basta, as well as darknet markets like Hydra, the world’s largest marketplace before it was shut down in 2022.
In addition to allegedly facilitating money laundering for criminals including North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group, which was responsible for a massive $1.5 billion heist on Bybit last month, Garantex has reportedly played a significant role in sanctions evasion. Top-tier sanctions evasion services like TGR Group, which caters to Russian oligarchs, have been linked to the exchange.
Read more: Sanctioned Russian crypto exchange Garantex detained, operators accused of money laundering
In connection with the arrest, U.S. prosecutors charged Beschokov and another Garantex operator, Alexander Mira Serda, a 40-year-old Russian national who lives in the United Arab Emirates, with conspiracy to launder money. Beschokov is currently on the U.S. Secret Service's Most Wanted list.
Neither the Kerala police nor the US Department of Justice (DOJ) responded to CoinDesk's request for comment on Beschokov's arrest.
