On January 10, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Georgia indicted three Russian nationals – Roman Vitalyevich Ostapenko, Alexander Evgenievich Oleynik, and Anton Vyachlavovich Tarasov – on money laundering charges related to their operation of Blender.io and Sinbad.io. Blender.io and Sinbad.io are cryptocurrency mixers that were sanctioned by the United States in 2022 and 2023, respectively. The three defendants have been charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business in connection with their operation of the online platforms. According to the DOJ, Ostapenko and Oleynick were arrested in connection with these charges on December 1, 2024, while Tarasov remains at large. On January 13, 2025, the court also unsealed a criminal complaint that was used to support the money laundering charges against Ostapenko, his arrest warrant, and the government’s extradition request.
Federal prosecutors allege that Blender.io and Sinbad.io have been used by criminals around the world to launder funds linked to a variety of cybercrimes, including funds from U.S. victims of ransomware and virtual currency theft. For a fee, the mixers allegedly allowed users to send cryptocurrency to designated recipients without having to disclose the source of the funds, and provided users with Bitcoin concealment services. Blender.io, in particular, allegedly advertised that its users were not required to sign up, register or provide any identifying information besides a receiving address. Blender also touted a “No Logs Policy” and allegedly deleted any trace of user transactions. According to court documents, Blender.io operated from approximately 2018 to 2022. Within a few months of Blender.io shutting down, Sinbad.io began operating. Sinbad.io operated until November 27, 2023 when the platform was allegedly taken down as part of a law enforcement action coordinated by the FBI and intelligence authorities in the Netherlands and Finland.
DOJ Press Release | Indictment | Criminal Complaint – Ostapenko