Garantex is a Russian cryptocurrency exchange that was co-founded in 2019 by Stanislav Drugalev and Sergey Mendeleev, located in the Federation Tower. It is mainly known for exchanging rubles for other currencies via trading them through cryptocurrencies, avoiding sanctions based on the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
| Industry | Cryptocurrency |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2019, in Moscow, Russia |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | Federation Tower |
| Website | garantex |
History
editOriginally registered in Estonia as Garantex Europe,[1] Garantex was co-founded in 2019 by Stanislav Drugalev and Sergey Mendeleev, establishing its offices in the Federation Tower.[2][3]
In September 2020, Drugalev handed himself in to Russian authorities, giving information on criminal groups using Garantex in exchange for his freedom. Drugalev would move to Dubai, and was later found dead in February 2021. His possessions were held for ransom by an unknown person, demanding that Drugalev's wife pay for their return. She did not pay the ransom. Police in Dubai never gave a full explanation about Drugalev's death.[2] Two months after Drugalev's death, executives met with Russia's Federal Security Service for the purpose of disclosing information about the exchange's users.[2]
In February 2022, Garantex was stripped of their license to operate in Europe.[4]
In April 2022, Garantex was placed under sanctions by the United States Department of the Treasury.[5] It's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) stated that $100 million worth of transactions on the exchange were associated with criminals and darknet marketers (including Russian ransomware Conti and Hydra Market, a darkweb marketplace).[3] Despite the sanctions, the exchange operates as one of the main channels for moving Russian money in and out of the country. Garantex is also used by cybercriminals to launder their profits. The exchange is used to convert rubles into stablecoins (most commonly Tether), which are then traded for other currencies abroad. The exchange's digital wallets were designated by the United States Treasury in its sanctions, causing Garantex to regularly change its wallets to evade tracking software used by authorities and other exchanges. It sends crypto to its customers by moving multiple tokens through a long sequence of different wallets, each from different sources. Wallets used by the exchange are often abandoned after a single use.[2] According to the company's website, Garantex allows withdrawals via Sberbank of Russia PJSC, Tinkoff Bank JSC, and Alfa-Bank AO cards, all of which are sanctioned by the United States and some of its allies.[4]
Evgenia Burova, the communications director for Garantex, denied accusations of money laundering, claiming that the exchange uses a Russian-made compliance software. She also claimed the United States targeted Garantex based on a political agenda.[2]
The transaction process has little to no trackable record, taking place within a network of Garantex's partners. Some locations of the exchange's partners include Dubai and Thailand. Customers are able to exchange up to $100 million rubles per transaction in person. By the time the company was sanctioned, Garantex had already moved it's IT infrastructure from an undisclosed location into Russia. The company also claimed it held no assets in the United States, while its reserves of cryptocurrency were held in neutral jurisdictions.[2]
Three weeks after being sanctioned, Garantex partnered with Bithauz, based out of the United Arab Emirates. The company's Dubai office allowed customers to trade up to $5 million in Tether for dirhams or dollars. Bithauz was operated by a Dubai-based firm, MKAN Coin. MKAN Coin was registered by Mohammed Khalifa, a former Garantex executive and former senior official at the Dubai International Financial Centre, a few weeks after sanctions were placed on Garantex. MKAN Coin was part of a group of Emirati-based firms used by Khalifa to offer relocations services to Russians. MKAN Coin claimed that Bithauz was not operated by the firm, and Bithauz only referred clients to them.[2]
Garantex would later announce withdrawal options in Turkey, Kazakhstan, other countries bordering Russia, and Marbella, a resort town in Spain popular amongst Russian tourists.[2]
In July 2022, transactions totaled around $865 million, which was more than triple the amount processed in the month the exchange was sanctioned.[2]
In October 2022, armed police raided Garantex's headquarters in the Federation Tower, leading to a temporary closure. The exchange would resume its operations the next day.[2]
Garantex accounted for a majority of all sanction-related transactions in 2022.[6]
Palestinian militants partially financed their operations through Garantex prior to the October 7 attack in Israel. Digital wallets controlled by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad received a portion of $93 million via Garantex.[2]
In March 2024, an investigation led by the Eesti Ekspress and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists revealed that within weeks of co-founder Stanislav Drugalev's death, he was replaced in corporate records by Irina Chernyavskaya, the romantic partner of Pavel Karavatsky, a shareholder linked to Rosneft, an oil company controlled by the Russian government. Karavatsky is a co-owner of the Russian firm, Fintech Corporation LLC (along with Aleksander Ntifo-Siao, a former shareholder of Garantex), which also owns 50% of a debt collection agency called Academy of Conflicts, alongside Alexander Tsarapkin, a gang leader who was convicted of extortion.[1]
Also in March 2024, the United States and United Kingdom announced a probe of over $20 billion in transactions that passed through Garantex, using the Tether stablecoin. There was no immediate suggestion of wrongdoing by Tether Holdings.[4]
References
edit- ^ a b Laine, Martin; Rosca, Matei; Kozyreva, Tanya (March 13, 2024). "Firm related to sanctioned crypto exchange Garantex is a partner of Moscow gang leader and has links to Kremlin-controlled Rosneft". International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Berwick, Angus (October 13, 2023). "The Crypto Exchange Moving Money for Criminal Gangs, Rich Russians and a Hamas-Linked Terror Group". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
- ^ a b Osipovich, Alexander (April 5, 2022). "Russian 'Darknet' Market Tied to Ransomware Is Shut Down". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
- ^ a b c Wickham, Alex; Jacobs, Jennifer; Nardelli, Alberto (March 28, 2024). "US and UK Probe $20 Billion of Crypto Transfers to Russian Exchange". Bloomberg. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
- ^ "Treasury Sanctions Russia-Based Hydra, World's Largest Darknet Market, and Ransomware-Enabling Virtual Currency Exchange Garantex" (Press release). U.S. Department of the Treasury. April 5, 2022.
- ^ Soon, Weilun (January 12, 2023). "Illicit Crypto Volumes Hit New High Last Year on Sanctions-Related Surge". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 4 November 2024.