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US prosecutors have charged a cryptocurrency entrepreneur with sanctions evasion and export control violations, alleging he laundered more than $500mn and helped Russians acquire sensitive US technology.
Iurii Gugnin, founder of crypto payments company Evita, was charged on Monday with wire and bank fraud, money laundering and other offences, according to court documents unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn. He was arrested and arraigned in New York, the Department of Justice said.
Prosecutors said Gugnin used his crypto payments company to make payments on behalf of foreign customers for sensitive US electronics, including an American designed server that was subject to export controls, and also laundered funds to purchase parts for Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned nuclear technology company.
“Gugnin came to the United States and set up a money-laundering operation under the guise of a cryptocurrency start-up, which he then used to evade sanctions and export controls and defraud US financial institutions,” US attorney Joseph Nocella said in a statement.
In a letter to a New York judge on Monday, prosecutors said Gugnin had “connections with government officials in Russia and Iran who could help facilitate his flight from prosecution, including members of Russia’s intelligence services”.
A representative for Gugnin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.