United States of America: Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on Garantex, Grinex, Executives, and Associated Entities for Sanctions Evasion and Cyber-Enabled Activities

On 14 August 2025, the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), acting pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13694 as further amended by E.O. 14144 and E.O. 14306, re-designated the cryptocurrency exchange Garantex Europe OU (Garantex) for facilitating over USD 100 million in illicit transactions linked to ransomware actors and other cybercriminals since 2019, and designated its successor exchange Grinex, three Garantex executives, and six associated companies in Russia and the Kyrgyz Republic for enabling sanctions evasion and malicious cyber-enabled activities. This action, undertaken in coordination with the United States Secret Service’s Cyber Investigative Section and with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, followed March 2025 multinational law enforcement measures that seized Garantex’s infrastructure and assets, after which the exchange transferred operations and customer funds to Grinex to circumvent sanctions. OFAC also designated partner entities A7 Limited Liability Company (A7), A71 Limited Liability Company (A71), A7 Agent Limited Liability Company (A7 Agent), and Old Vector LLC in connection with the creation and use of the A7A5 ruble-backed digital asset to facilitate continued operations, as well as Independent Decentralized Finance Smartbank and Ecosystem (InDeFi Bank) and Exved for supporting sanctions evasion. As a result, all property and interests in property of these designated persons within the United States jurisdiction are blocked, and transactions involving such persons by United States persons or within the United States are generally prohibited under OFAC regulations.