Two Venezuelans and five Russians have been indicted by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) for misusing cryptocurrencies to benefit the Russian government.
According to reports, the defendants smuggled millions of barrels of oil from Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) for Russia and China and 'laundered' tens of millions of dollars through cryptocurrency transactions.
The Russian defendants in question are Yury Orekhov, Svetlana Kuzurgasheva, Timofey Telegin, Sergey Tulyakov and Artem Uss, who are the sons of Russian regional governors.
According to the DOJ, Orekhov is the managing director and CEO of Nord-Deutsche Industrieanlagenbau GmbH (NDA GmbH), a private company based in Germany involved in the trade of industrial equipment and commodities.
Explained, NDA GmbH is tasked with purchasing United States (US) military technology, missile systems, radars and satellites.
In addition, the US authorities also claimed that a Venezuelan citizen known as Juanfe Serrano had acted as an intermediary with a company owned by the Venezuelan government.
In context, the defendant has used couriers from Russia and Latin America to receive a sum of cash that will be converted into cryptocurrency to launder the proceeds.
They also made elaborate plans to illegally obtain US military technology and Venezuelan blocked oil through the Shell company and cryptocurrency, commented US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Breon Peace.
In the meantime, Orekhov and Uss are being held in Germany and Italy pending extradition proceedings at the request of the United States who are likely to face up to 30 years in prison if found guilty.
