The U.S. authorities has sanctioned a Russian nationwide for allegedly laundering thousands and thousands of {dollars} price of sufferer ransom funds on behalf of people linked to the infamous Ryuk ransomware group.
In response to an announcement from the U.S. Treasury’s Workplace of International Belongings Management (OFAC), Ekaterina Zhdanova, 37, is accused of utilizing digital forex trade transfers and fraudulent accounts to launder cash for Russian elites, ransomware teams, and different dangerous actors to help them evade economic sanctions imposed on Russia’s monetary system following the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Ryuk first emerged in 2018 and is thought for its assaults concentrating on the U.S. public sector. In 2020, in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the gang was linked to an assault on Universal Health Services, one of many largest healthcare suppliers within the U.S., costing the healthcare large not less than $67 million in misplaced earnings.
OFAC mentioned Zhdanova laundered greater than $2.3 million of “suspected sufferer funds” for a Ryuk ransomware affiliate in 2021. Zhdanova allegedly ran the illicit funds by way of cryptocurrency exchanges that lack anti-money laundering controls, together with the Russia-based Garantex trade, which was the topic of U.S. sanctions in 2022.
Zhdanova additionally makes use of conventional companies to take care of entry to the worldwide monetary system, together with by way of a luxurious watch firm that has places of work around the globe, in response to OFAC. As per Chainalysis, a search of Zhdanova’s electronic mail handle additionally reveals that she is presently promoting a 13-room lodge in Moscow that “generates a revenue of as much as 1,000,000 rubles a month,” or about $11,000 on the time of writing — although it’s unclear the lodge enterprise pertains to her alleged cash laundering exercise.
TechCrunch despatched Zhdanova a number of WhatsApp and Sign messages through the telephone quantity included on the itemizing, however didn’t hear again.
Zhdanova has additionally been accused of conducting digital forex trade transfers on behalf of oligarchs who’ve relocated internationally. In response to OFAC, a Russian oligarch sought out Zhdanova to maneuver over $100 million in wealth on their behalf to the United Arab Emirates, and he or she additionally helped comparable purchasers get hold of tax residency within the nation, in addition to identification playing cards and financial institution accounts based mostly in Dubai.
In February, the U.S. and U.Okay. governments levied sanctions against seven people allegedly related to a single community behind the Conti and Ryuk ransomware variants, in addition to the infamous Trickbot banking trojan. The sanctions got here days after Russian citizen Denis Mihaqlovic Dubnikov, 30, pleaded responsible in a U.S. courtroom to laundering Ryuk ransomware funds following his extradition from the Netherlands.
