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Sujha Sundararajan
Author
Sujha Sundararajan
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New York federal prosecutors have arrested and arraigned the Russian CEO of Miami-based crypto platform Evita for orchestrating a $530 million fraud scheme.
The Russian national used his crypto company, Evita, to funnel $530 million of overseas payments via US banks and crypto platforms, the DOJ release noted. Further, the accused moved the money to aid sanctioned Russian banks.
Iurii Gugnin faces a 22-count indictment of wire fraud, violation of US sanctions and export controls, and money laundering.
“The defendant is charged with turning a cryptocurrency company into a covert pipeline for dirty money, moving over half a billion dollars through the U.S. financial system to aid sanctioned Russian banks and help Russian end-users acquire sensitive U.S. technology,” Assistant Attorney General Eisenberg said in the statement.
Russian Sanctioned Sberbank, VTB Bank, Sovcombank, Tinkoff Were Evita’s Clients
Gugnin allegedly hid the source and purpose of transactions, prosecutors noted. Under the guise of crypto startup Evita, he served as a financial intermediary to sanctioned Russian entities through illicit transactions, FBI New York Assistant Director in Charge Raia, noted.
“Gugnin’s alleged scheme manipulated our nation’s financial infrastructure to benefit our nation’s adversaries.”
Furthermore, his clients included sanctioned Russian financial institutions, such as Sberbank, VTB Bank, Sovcombank, Tinkoff, and the state-owned energy company Rosatom.
Between June 2023 and January 2025, Gugnin used Evita to process over 80 invoices, digitally erasing the identities of Russian recipients. The accused purportedly routed funds using USDT and USDC stablecoins.
A WSJ article published last September, profiled Gugnin as one of the high-net-worth renters in Manhattan, paying $19,000 per month for an apartment.
Gugnin Knew He Was Breaking the Law
Per the DOJ, the accused was aware that he was breaking the law through various web searches, including queries like “how to know if there is an investigation against you” and “money laundering penalties US.”
He also reportedly visited pages like “am I being investigated?” and “what are the best ways to find out if you’re being investigated.”
Gugnin was arrested on Monday and if convicted, he would face a jail term of up to 30 years on the bank fraud counts; 20 years for the wire fraud, money laundering; 10 years for failure to implement an effective AML program and 5 years for conspiracy to defraud the US financial system.
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