India arrested an administrator of cryptocurrency based in Russia

Authorities in India have arrested an administrator of the exchange of cryptocurrencies requested by the United States for being claimed to help cybercriminals drink money and violate sanctions.

Alexei Beskov, Lithuanian citizen and Russian resident, was arrested in the southern state of Kerala on Tuesday, the highest investigative agency in India said.

According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), he was one of the Garantex administrators, a Russian cryptocurrency exchange and was responsible for the review and approval of its transactions.

Besiokov is in custody and has not yet made a statement. Garantex could not be reached immediately for comment.

Besiokov has been a “resident in Russia” according to Recently issued DOJ’s chargeAnd it is unclear when and why he came to India.

The Central Bureau of Investigation of India (CBI) said in a statement that IT arrest an order against him At Washington’s request.

Beskiokov will now be produced in a court in Delhi, the announcement said. It is unclear when he will be extradited to the United States.

The United States, in coordination with Germany and Finland, had downloaded online infrastructure used by Garantex, DOJ said last week.

He added that Garantex was processing at least $ 96 billion (£ 74.10 billion) in 2019 cryptocurrency transactions and that he had obtained hundreds of millions in penalty revenues that were then used to “facilitate several crimes”, including hacking, ransom, terrorism.

Doj also accused the Lithuanian citizen of violating sanctions and operating a “unlicensed business to transfer money”.

Last week, US officials accused Beskov, along with Russian co -founder Alexander Mira Serda with money laundering.

Garantex was sanctioned by the US Department of Finance in 2022.

But shortly thereafter, Beskiokov and other administrators “reworked” their operations to “avoid sanctions” and force the American business to work with them, DOJ said.

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