Twister Money co-founders charged by DOJ; one sanctioned by U.S. Treasury whereas the opposite arrested by FBI

The U.S. Division of Justice (DOJ) introduced costs in opposition to two people who co-founded Twister Money on Aug. 23.

The company unsealed an indictment charging Roman Storm and Roman Semenov with varied wrongdoings associated to creating, working, and selling Twister Money — a once-popular Ethereum-based coin mixer that obscured crypto transactions.

U.S. Legal professional Damian Williams mentioned:

“Whereas publicly claiming to supply a technically refined privateness service, Storm and Semenov in actual fact knew that they have been serving to hackers and fraudsters conceal the fruits of their crimes.”

The DOJ additional famous that Twister Money dealt with $1 billion in prison proceeds and laundered funds on behalf of North Korean cybercrime teams.

The company’s full checklist of costs in opposition to the 2 Twister Money co-founders contains conspiracy to commit cash laundering, conspiracy to commit sanctions violations, and conspiracy to function an unlicensed money-transmitting enterprise.

The DOJ mentioned that Storm has been arrested in Washington State and shall be introduced in courtroom, whereas Semenov has not but been positioned or arrested.

The U.S. Treasury individually introduced sanctions in opposition to Semenov, an motion that can prohibit different events from transacting with him. The company famous that those that transact with Semenov could also be designated themselves.

A 3rd developer, Alexey Pertsev, was arrested within the Netherlands in August 2022. The DOJ didn’t announce costs in opposition to Pertsev at the moment. Treasury talked about Pertsev’s previous arrest however didn’t announce sanctions in opposition to him (or in opposition to Storm).

Treasury beforehand sanctioned mixer

The Treasury initially imposed sanctions on Twister Money in August 2022, successfully banning mainstream entry to the coin mixer.

Nonetheless, Twister Money continued to function as a result of its decentralized nature and reliance on cryptocurrency. The platform has even survived different trials: Twister Money’s governance system was notably hacked in Could 2023, resulting in a theft of lower than $1 million. Governance coin holders later regained management by way of a brand new proposal.

Information from DefiLlama means that Twister Money stays energetic with $245 million in complete worth locked (TVL), down from its all-time excessive TVL of $1.1 billion.

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