Aleksej Besciokov Arrested: Aleksej Besciokov’s arrest comes after the US Department of Justice accused him of personally approving transactions on Garantex linked to North Korea-government hackers.
The co-founder of Garantex, a Russian cryptocurrency exchange sanctioned by the European Union and the US, was arrested in India. Police arrested Lithuanian national Aleksej Besciokov in Varkala.
Aleksej Besciokov’s arrest comes after the US Department of Justice accused him of personally approving transactions on Garantex linked to North Korea-government hackers and other cybercriminals. The charges against him include facilitating money laundering on the crypto exchange.
US Justice Department spokesperson Nicole Oxman confirmed that Aleksej Besciokov was “arrested in India at the request of the United States”, TechCrunch reported.
Who Is Aleksej Besciokov?
Aleksej Besciokov was indicted along with Russian national Aleksandr Mira Serda, who co-founded Garantex and lives in the United Arab Emirates. The two administrators “redesigned Garantex’s operations to evade and violate US sanctions and induce US businesses to unwittingly transact with Garantex in violation of the sanctions”, as per the US Justice Department.
