Summary: The U.S. Department of Justice has indicted three Russian nationals for their roles in operating cryptocurrency mixing services Blender.io and Sinbad.io, which were allegedly used for laundering criminal funds. The mixers facilitated transactions that obscured the origins of funds linked to various cyber crimes, including ransomware and wire fraud.

Threat Actor: Russian nationals | Russian nationals
Victim: Cryptocurrency users | cryptocurrency users

Key Point :

• Three individuals indicted for operating mixers that laundered funds from cyber crimes.
• Blender.io was previously sanctioned for its links to North Korea’s Lazarus Group.
• Sinbad.io allegedly rebranded from Blender.io to continue operations after sanctions.
• Victims of scams lost over $25 million, often through self-custodial wallets.