Euro House, Richmond Hill Road, P.O. Box 2897, Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Reg. ID
1628, Business Registration Number
Official reason
Concurrently, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is sanctioning Ivanov and Cryptex—a virtual currency exchange registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and operating in Russia. The FinCEN and OFAC actions are being issued in conjunction with actions by other U.S. government agencies and international law enforcement partners to hold accountable Ivanov and the associated virtual currency services. The U.S. Secret Service’s Cyber Investigative Section, the Netherlands Police, and the Dutch Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Service (FIOD) have seized web domains and/or infrastructure associated with PM2BTC, UAPS, and Cryptex. Cryptex is a virtual currency exchange registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines under the name “International Payment Service Provider” that provides financial services to cybercriminals and is operating in the financial services sector of the Russian Federation economy. Cryptex advertises its virtual currency services in Russian and has received over $51.2 million in funds derived from ransomware attacks. Cryptex is also associated with over $720 million in transactions to services frequently used by Russia-based ransomware actors and cybercriminals, including fraud shops, mixing services, exchanges lacking KYC programs, and OFAC-designated virtual currency exchange Garantex. OFAC is designating Cryptex pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13694, as amended by E.O. 13757 (“E.O. 13694, as amended”), for being responsible for or complicit in, or for having engaged in, directly or indirectly, a cyber-enabled activity identified pursuant to E.O. 13694, as amended, and pursuant to E.O. 14024 for operating or having operated in the financial services sector of the Russian Federation economy.
Executive Order 13694 Blocking the Property of Certain Persons Engaging in Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities;
Executive Order 13757 Taking Additional Steps to Address the National Emergency With Respect to Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities
On December 31, 2015, OFAC issued the Cyber-Related Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 578 (80 FR 81752, December 31, 2015) (the “Regulations”) to implement Executive Order (E.O.) 13694 of April 1, 2015, “Blocking the Property of Certain Persons Engaging in Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities” (80 FR 18077, April 2, 2015), pursuant to authorities delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury in E.O. 13694. The Regulations were initially issued in abbreviated form for the purpose of providing immediate guidance to the public. OFAC is revising the Regulations to further implement E.O. 13694, as amended by E.O. 13757 of December 28, 2016, “Taking Additional Steps to Address the National Emergency With Respect to Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities” (82 FR 1, January 3, 2017), as well as certain provisions of title II of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (Pub. L. 115–44, 131 Stat. 886 (codified in scattered sections of 22 U.S.C.)) (CAATSA). OFAC is amending and reissuing the Regulations as a more comprehensive set of regulations that includes additional interpretive guidance and definitions, general licenses, and other regulatory provisions that will provide further guidance to the public. Due to the number of regulatory sections being updated or added, OFAC is reissuing the Regulations in their entirety.
E.O. 13694, as Amended by E.O. 13757. On April 1, 2015, the President, invoking the authority of, inter alia, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), issued E.O. 13694. In E.O. 13694, the President determined that the increasing prevalence and severity of malicious cyber-enabled activities originating from, or directed by persons located, in whole or in substantial part, outside the United States constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States, and declared a national emergency to deal with that threat.
On December 28, 2016, the President issued E.O. 13757 to take additional steps to deal with the national emergency with respect to significant malicious cyber-enabled activities declared in E.O. 13694. E.O. 13757 added an Annex to E.O. 13694 and amended section 1 of E.O. 13694 by replacing section 1(a) in its entirety.
