Representatives from India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) declared the apprehension of Lithuanian citizen Aleksej Bešciokov, who was purportedly involved in managing the cryptocurrency exchange Garantex.
In a notification dated March 12, the CBI stated that law enforcement in the Indian state of Kerala had collaborated with national authorities to detain Bešciokov. Reports indicate that the Lithuanian national was on holiday in India with his family and intended to exit the country. The arrest of the purported Garantex founder stemmed from US allegations of conspiracy to engage in money laundering, conspiracy to run an unlicensed money transmission business, and conspiracy to breach the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Aleksej Bešciokov’s “most wanted” profile. Source: US Secret Service
An indictment submitted on Feb. 27 in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia reveals that Bešciokov, Aleksandr Mira Serda, and associates ran Garantex to “clean the gains from illicit activity, such as ransomware, computer breaches, narcotics dealings, and violations of sanctions, profiting from this laundering” from 2019 to the present. Bešciokov is anticipated to be handed over to US authorities in compliance with India’s Extradition Act of 1962.
The detention of the alleged Garantex founder occurred after Tether’s suspension of $27 million in USDt (USDT) on its platform. The cryptocurrency exchange revealed on March 6 that it had temporarily halted all operations, including withdrawals. Additionally, US authorities seized three domain names utilized to support Garantex’s activities as ordered by a judge in the criminal case.
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The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control listed Garantex among its sanctioned entities in April 2022 for “willfully disregarding Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) responsibilities and permitting their systems to be exploited by unlawful actors.” The European Union also implemented sanctions against the exchange in February as part of the measures against “Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.”
Serda, a Russian citizen and co-founder of Garantex, appeared to still be at large when Bešciokov was arrested.
A representative from Garantex chose not to provide any comments.
Delays returning to the United States?
It remains uncertain what legal options Bešciokov may pursue in contesting his extradition to the US from India should he decide to take such action. Legal representatives for Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon, who was detained in Montenegro in March 2023 on unrelated allegations, repeatedly challenged court rulings concerning US extradition before he was ultimately surrendered to authorities in December 2024.
Former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who resided in the Bahamas when cryptocurrency exchange FTX collapsed in November 2022, was extradited from the island to the US to face allegations. He was later found guilty on seven felony charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison but subsequently filed for an appeal.
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