Washington imposed economic sanctions on Wednesday against a Russian money laundering network, which notably uses cryptocurrencies to allow the country’s elites to circumvent sanctions imposed by Western countries since the invasion of Ukraine .
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These sanctions target people and entities linked to the TGR group, “an illicit international financial network that allows Russian elites to circumvent American and international sanctions,” details the American Department of the Treasury in a press release.
The companies concerned are located in the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and Thailand, it is specified.
A company based in the United States, in the state of Wyoming, and which is at least 50% owned by one of the people targeted by these sanctions is also sanctioned.
“Through the TGR Group, Russian elites have sought to exploit digital assets, particularly US dollar-backed cryptocurrencies, to evade US and international sanctions, thereby enriching themselves and the Kremlin,” he said. said Bradley Smith, Acting Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
“With points of contact around the world, the TGR Group is an extensive sanctions evasion and money laundering network that works to conceal the illicit activities of its clients, including through the use of digital assets, such as than stable cryptocurrencies like Tether,” specifies Washington.
These sanctions, taken by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac), which reports to the US Department of the Treasury, are the result of a collaborative effort with the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.
The sanctions result in the freezing of assets held directly or indirectly by the targeted companies in the United States as well as the ban on companies based in the United States, or American citizens, from trading with these sanctions targets, at the risk of be sanctioned in turn.
They also, in fact, complicate the commercial exchanges of companies under sanction, by limiting their possibility of using the dollar in their transactions, at the risk of falling under American jurisdiction.
