The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has recently taken action against five individuals connected to a money laundering network that allegedly facilitated Russian elites in bypassing international sanctions. The Treasury Department announced that sanctions are being imposed on individuals associated with the TGR Group, which utilizes digital assets such as the US dollar-pegged stablecoin USDT to support the financial activities of wealthy Russian nationals, despite restrictions imposed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Leading the TGR Group is George Rossi, a Russia-born Ukrainian national, who is believed to have overall control of the network. Other members and affiliates include Elena Chirkinyan, Andrejs Bradens, Khadzi-Murat Dalgatovich Magomedov, and Nikita Vladimirovich Krasnov, according to OFAC. As a result of the sanctions, all property and interests in property of these individuals located in the United States or controlled by U.S. persons are now blocked and must be reported to OFAC.
The money laundering network is accused of laundering funds on behalf of sanctioned entities, providing unregistered services for cash and cryptocurrency exchanges, offering cash value to clients in the form of crypto, providing prepaid credit card services, and concealing fund sources to enable wealthy Russians to purchase properties in the United Kingdom. Bradley T. Smith, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, expressed concerns about the exploitation of digital assets, particularly US dollar-backed stablecoins, by Russian elites to evade sanctions and further enrich themselves and the Kremlin.
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