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US court sentences Russian ransom money launderer to probation and fine – Bitcoin News
A Russian crypto entrepreneur charged with money laundering from ransomware attacks has been sentenced to probation and fines in the United States after pleading guilty. Founder of two coin trading platforms, Denis Dubnikov, was arrested in the Netherlands and extradited to the United States last year.
Oregon Court Condemns Russian for Processing Ryuk Payments
A Russian citizen accused of money laundering related to the distribution of ransom money has been sentenced to three years of probation in the United States. Denis Dubnikov was arrested in Amsterdam in November 2021, and then extradited to the United States in August 2022.
A federal court in Oregon has also ordered the 30-year-old crypto businessman to forfeit $2,000 in dividends, which represent a portion of what he earned as a result of his criminal activity, and pay $10,100 in punitive damages.
US prosecutors initially accused the Russian and his accomplices of laundering the proceeds of Ryuk ransomware attacks on individuals and organizations in the US and other countries between at least August 2018 and August 2021.
Court documents now show that the owner of crypto exchanges Coyote Crypto and Eggchange only laundered a portion of a Ryuk ransom payment, noting that “the defendant was not involved in the underlying ransomware activity and pleads guilty on a willful blindness theory.”
In July 2019, a US company paid a 250 BTC (about $3.1 million) ransom after a Ryuk attack. Dubnikov agreed to exchange 35 BTC for approximately $400,000 in cash. The court says that he did not know that this was ransom money, but that he also “deliberately avoided learning the truth”.
Ryuk is a type of software that encrypts files on the targeted organizations’ computers. First identified in 2018, the ransomware has been used against various victims worldwide, including hospitals and healthcare workers in the United States.
The court sentence takes into account the time Dubnikov spent in custody. He has been ordered to comply with probation requirements, including regularly reporting to the police, taking drug tests and providing DNA samples upon request by law enforcement authorities.
Do you expect more arrests and convictions related to Ryuk ransomware attacks? Share your thoughts on the matter in the comments section below.
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