The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has blacklisted two Russians and their crypto wallets over sanctions evasion.
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The financial watchdog said in a press release that Igor Zimenkov and his son Jonatan Zimenkov supported sanctioned state-owned Russian defense entities Rosoboroneksport and Rostec, providing them with high-technology devices. OFAC hasn't detailed about how the crypto wallets were involved in the scheme, but blacklisted Jonatan's bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) wallets.
According to reports, the ether wallet has over 5,000 ETH, part of which was received from a "large OTC wallet" that was funded by Alameda Research, a hedge fund with close ties to FTX.
The move comes just a few weeks after the Treasury sanctioned Bitzlato, a Russian OTC-exchange service, for processing over $700 million worth of crypto from a darknet marketplace Hydra Market and ransomware gangs. Bitzlato reportedly facilitated illicit transactions for ransomware actors from Russia, including Conti and darknet markets such as BlackSprut, OMG!OMG!, and Mega.
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