The Biden administration issued a new round of Russia-related sanctions on Wednesday, targeting what it calls an illicit financing network that allows Russian elites to use digital assets to avoid sanctions.
In a statement, the US Treasury Department said it was targeting five individuals and four entities linked to “a sprawling international network of companies and employees that facilitated significant sanctions evasion”, known as the Group TGR.
The targets also include a Wyoming-based entity that is partly owned by a sanctioned individual, the department said.
“Through the TGR Group, Russian elites sought to mine digital assets – particularly U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins – to evade U.S. and international sanctions, allowing them to enrich and enrich themselves the Kremlin,” Bradley Smith, acting undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.
The international network’s actions include “laundering funds associated with sanctioned entities; providing an unregistered service to exchange cash and cryptocurrencies; receiving cash and making value available to customers in the form of cryptocurrencies; providing a prepaid credit card service and obscuring the source of funds to enable wealthy Russian nationals to purchase property in the United Kingdom; ministry.
-These sanctions generally prohibit any U.S. person or entity from engaging in transactions with the sanctioned targets and freeze any U.S.-held assets belonging to the sanctioned individuals or entities.
Among those targeted by Wednesday’s action are George Rossi, a Russian-born Ukrainian national who the Treasury Department says controls TGR Group, as well as Mr. Rossi’s direct report, Russian national Elena Chirkinyan, among others.
Belgium
