OFAC Sanctions Russian National for Offering Crypto Money Laundering Services

The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned Ekaterina Zhdanova, a Russian national who the agency said has laundered money and moved funds on behalf of wealthy Russians using virtual currency.

In March 2022, OFAC said, Zhdanova helped a sanctioned Russian client transfer more than $2.3 million to Western Europe through a “fraudulently opened investment account and real estate purchases.” She also uses virtual currency to conduct “large cross border transactions” by using cryptocurrency exchanges that lack anti-money laundering controls, the agency said. This included helping a Russian oligarch move over $100 million to the United Arab Emirates.