- U.S. DOJ has filed charges against five Russians and two Venezuelans
- The alleged were charged with running a global money laundering network
- The accused used USDT to circumvent sanctions
The US government has announced the shutdown of a Russian and Venezuelan network that utilized Tether (USDT) to conduct transactions outside of the traditional banking system and circumvent international sanctions.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) stated that it would be filing criminal charges against seven individuals, which include five Russians and two Venezuelans. The individuals are suspected of running a global network to launder money, smuggle, and conduct illicit business with sanctioned firms, most notably the Venezuelan state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA).
Per a press release, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York filed 12 charges against Russian nationals Yury Orekhov, Svetlana Kuzurgasheva, Artem Uss, Timofey Telegin, Sergey Tulyakov, and two Venezuelans namely Juan Fernando Serrano and Juan Carlos Soto.
Yury Orekhin reportedly wrote to a co-conspirator: “No worries, no stress. As soon as we start berthing, we will immediately transfer. USDT works quick like SMS.”
According to the DOJ, Serrano and Soto arranged for hundreds of millions of barrels of oil to be traded with Orekhov and Uss, who then delivered the oil to buyers in Russia and China. Meanwhile, allegations have been made against Orekhov and Kuzurgasheva for allegedly delivering illegal military hardware to Russia.
The release states that many Russian intermediary companies were employed to process the transfers. Additionally, they transferred several millions of dollars in cryptocurrency to circumvent sanctions.
During the time that Donald Trump was in office, PDVSA and the Petro, Venezuela’s national cryptocurrency, were both sanctioned. The restrictions prevented Venezuela from establishing regular trade contacts with any country.
Under the sanctions, the US essentially blocked Venezuela from establishing normal economic relations with most nations across the globe, as anybody who trades with the oil company risks losing commercial ties with the North American power and risking severe physical and monetary penalties.
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