September 27, 2024 at 08:45AM
The US government has offered rewards of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of two Russian nationals involved in operating and laundering proceeds from carding websites. Joker’s Stash, a marketplace for stolen payment card data, is estimated to have generated illegal profits in the range of $280 million to over $1 billion. Rewards are also offered for information on other leaders of the website. Additionally, the Treasury Department has sanctioned one of the individuals and identified a payment and exchange services as a “primary money laundering concern”. The US has seized the domain names associated with a cryptocurrency money laundering exchange and cryptocurrency worth over $7 million in a coordinated action with authorities in the Netherlands.
Based on the meeting notes provided, the US government announced rewards of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of two Russian nationals. Timur Shakhmametov, also known as ‘JokerStash’ and ‘Vega’, was charged with bank fraud conspiracy, access device fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy related to his involvement in operating the carding website Joker’s Stash. The US is offering up to $10 million for information on Shakhmametov and up to $1 million for information on other leaders of the website.
Additionally, Russian national Sergey Ivanov, also known as ‘Taleon’, was involved in laundering proceeds from Joker’s Stash and Rescator, another carding website. The US is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information on Ivanov, and up to $1 million for information on other key leaders of UAPS, PM2BTC, and PinPays. The Treasury Department also sanctioned Ivanov, and identified PM2BTC as a “primary money laundering concern” in connection with Russian illicit finance. The meeting notes also mentioned the seizure of domain names associated with the cryptocurrency money laundering exchange Cryptex.net and the coordinated actions taken by the authorities in the Netherlands.
The meeting notes also list related news on US charges and sanctions, domain seizures, plus criminal charges in Iran hack targeting Trump, and charges and reward for a Russian national behind wiper attacks on Ukraine.