Alexsej Besciokov, a Lithuanian national wanted in connection with criminal activities and money laundering linked to a crypto exchange in the US, was arrested in an operation by the Central Bureau of Investigation and Kerala police.
The 46-year-old was on vacation with his family when he was arrested by Varkala police on Tuesday evening. The arrest took place as Besciokov was planning to flee India, the CBI statement said. Besciokov, his wife and two daughters and another person were staying at Varkala.
The CBI said that at Washington's request, India's foreign ministry had issued a provisional arrest warrant for the arrest. The Lithuanian national is a resident of Russia and is the co-founder of Garantex, a cryptocurrency exchange sanctioned by the US government in 2022.
Police said Besciokov facilitated billions of dollars in money laundering by transnational criminal and cybercriminal organisations. The US Department of Justice unsealed an indictment against Besciokov on March 7. Besciokov is currently on the US Secret Service's Most Wanted list.
Aleksandr Mira Serda (40), a Russian national living in the United Arab Emirates, has also been named in the indictment. Serda is the co-founder of Garantex.
Apart from money laundering, Besciokov is charged with conspiracy to violate sanctions and conspiracy to operate an unlicenced money transmitting business.
The CBI statement said that Besciokov profited by laundering the proceeds from ransomware, computer hacking, and narcotics transactions. Between 2021 and 2024, Garantex laundered millions of US dollars in ransomware proceeds, including proceeds from Black Basta, Play and Conti ransomware groups.
The exchange has processed at least $96 billion in cryptocurrency transactions since April 2019, the US Justice Department said last week.
Last week, a coalition of international law enforcement agencies from the US, Germany and Finland seized Garantex's domains and servers and froze nearly $28 million in crypto tied to the exchange.
Garantex has reportedly laundered money for criminals, including North Korea's hacking squad, the Lazarus Group. It also evaded US sanctions.
Blockchain research company TRM Labs said in a blog post last week that the takedown of Garantex "marks a major milestone in the fight against illicit finance" but cautioned that sanctioned exchanges often attempt to evade restrictions by creating new entities.
(By arrangement with livemint.com)
