The United States Department of Justice has charged Roman Pikulev with creating and operating the unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange Cryptonator, through which more than $235 million in illegal funds were processed.
According to the indictment, Pikulev and his accomplices operated Cryptonator from 2014 to March 2023. The platform facilitated an international money laundering scheme, primarily serving criminals. Cryptonator has received funds from numerous computer breaches, ransomware attacks, fraud and identity theft.
Cryptonator was never registered with the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), which is a federal offense. The Department of Justice alleges that the platform lacked significant anti-money laundering procedures and an effective audit program. Pikulev knew that the funds he processed were derived from criminal activities or intended to support criminal efforts.
Cybercriminals used the platform to exchange cryptocurrencies and withdraw funds in fiat currency. Pikulev built into Cryptonator features that anonymized the source of the funds. In official documents, Pikulev also used the nickname “Boss”. It operated the platform through multiple IT providers in the United States and advertised on American social media to promote the service.
Investigators obtained a search warrant for the email address Pikulev used to register cryptonator.com. The platform processed over 4 million transactions totaling $1,4 billion, with Pikulev receiving a small percentage of each transaction. According to TRM Labs, the information reveals numerous transactions and connections between Cryptonator and other criminal markets, including Finiko, Blender, Hydra Market, Bitzlato and Garantex.s and was advertised on US social media to promote the service.
Bitcoin addresses monitored by Cryptonator that are sent or received directly and indirectly:
- $25.000.000 with darknet purchases, scams and card shops
- $34.500.000 with scam addresses
- $80.000.000 with high risk swaps
- $8.000.000 with addresses associated with ransomware groups
- $54.000.000 in addresses associated with crypto hacks and theft operations
- $34.000.000 with cryptocurrency mixing services
- $71.000.000 with approved addresses
