Operators of the Blender and Sinbad platforms face up to 25 years in prison. The mixing services allegedly facilitated the laundering of millions of dollars from criminal activities.
On January 10, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted three Russian citizens for operating Blender and Sinbad, two well-known custodial crypto mixing platforms used to enhance transaction privacy and potentially conceal the origins of illicit funds.
Roman Vitalyevich Ostapenko, Alexander Evgenievich Oleynik, and Anton Vyachlavovich Tarasov are charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and operating unlicensed money transmitter services. Two of the defendants were arrested last December, while Tarasov remains at large.
The investigation also revealed links to the North Korean regime. According to investigators, the Lazarus hacking group, supported by the North Korean government, used Blender to launder $20.5 million from a $600 million theft targeting the Axie Infinity platform.
Brent S. Wible, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, stated:
“The defendants effectively created a safe haven for cybercriminals. These mixing services were used to conceal the proceeds of activities such as ransomware and fraud, jeopardizing national security.”
Both platforms operated under a “no-log” policy, systematically deleting transaction details. Blender was active from 2018 until 2022, when it was shut down following sanctions imposed by the U.S. Treasury. A few months later, Sinbad emerged, which, according to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, was merely a rebranded version of the same service. Sinbad was also permanently shut down by authorities in November 2023.
If convicted, the three face up to 20 years in prison for money laundering and an additional 5 years for each charge related to the unauthorized operation of financial services.
