Category: Banking

Regulatory Watch News

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  Operators of Cryptocurrency Mixers Charged with Money Laundering

  US Department of Justice

  January 10, 2025

  A federal grand jury in the Northern District of Georgia returned an indictment on Jan. 7 charging three Russian nationals for their involvement in operating the cryptocurrency mixing services Blender.io and Sinbad.io. Roman Vitalyevich Ostapenko and Alexander Evgenievich Oleynik were arrested on Dec. 1, 2024, roughly a year after Sinbad.io’s online infrastructure was seized as part of a coordinated law enforcement action among the Netherlands’ Financial Intelligence and Investigative Service, Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation, and the FBI. The third defendant, Anton Vyachlavovich Tarasov, remains at large.

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  Treasury Intensifies Sanctions Against Russia by Targeting Russia’s Oil Production and Exports

  OFAC

  January 10, 2025

  WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury took sweeping action to fulfill the G7 commitment to reduce Russian revenues from energy, including blocking two major Russian oil producers. Today’s actions also impose sanctions on an unprecedented number of oil-carrying vessels, many of which are part of the “shadow fleet,” opaque traders of Russian oil, Russia-based oilfield service providers, and Russian energy officials. Today’s actions are underpinned by the issuance of a new determination that authorizes sanctions pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14024 against persons operating or having operated in the energy sector of the Russian Federation economy. These actions substantially increase the sanctions risks associated with the Russian oil trade.

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  Financial sanctions update: Venezuela

  OFSI

  January 10, 2025

  15 entries added to the consolidated list

  On 10 January 2025 the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office updated the UK Sanctions List on GOV.UK. This list provides details of those designated under regulations made under the Sanctions Act. 15 entries have been added to the Venezuela financial sanctions regime and are now subject to an asset freeze. More information can be found in the notice. OFSI’s consolidated list of asset freeze targets has been updated to reflect these changes.