A Russian lawmaker who was one of the authors of the draft law legalizing crypto mining in the country has been linked to over-the-counter exchange Bankoff.
Russian opposition activist Mikhail Khodorkovsky linked Bankoff to lawmaker Andrei Lugovoy in a December 19 article in the London investigative project Dossier Center .
The article was accompanied by a video uploaded to the Khodorkovsky Live YouTube channel, entitled "Crypto Kremlin: How the Authorities Launder Bitcoin" .
According to the dossier, Bankoff is the most active peer-to-peer trader in trading the Russian ruble on global crypto exchange Binance. As previously reported, Binance continues to serve unsanctioned Russians even though the European Union outright banned crypto transactions for Russia in October. Over-the-counter platform Bankoff only accepts cash from its customers and has almost no anti-money laundering or identity verification controls.
The trader's office is said to be on the 65th floor of a building in the skyscraper area of Moscow. The premises are owned by the Bratsk Electricity Network, a company that provides electricity in the Russian city of Bratsk. This is considered the center for crypto mining .
According to the dossier, Bankoff may have made as much as $20,000 daily at a 4 percent commission on users' crypto transactions. Lugovoy's wife Ksenia Lugowaja is said to have owned a stake in the Bratsk Electricity Network since 2018. A statement from her husband, reportedly included in the Dossier video, said Lugovaya earned 29.6 million rubles (almost $400,000) in 2021. This comes exclusively from the electricity company in Bratsk.
The Dossier article and video also describes how a Dossier representative allegedly deposited 100,000 rubles ($1,400) into Tether via Russian- sanctioned crypto exchange Garantex
could convert. The representative is said to have sent USDT from Garantex to Binance and then transferred that money to an account owned by British fintech firm Wise. So the money could be moved despite the sanctions imposed by the United States.
This system not only allows Russian government officials to evade sanctions, but also provides them with a source of income, the spokesperson explained in the video .
"That doesn't stop Russian officials and members of the security forces from using cryptocurrencies. Not only are they using cryptocurrencies to get millions out of the country, but they're also making money from it. People being watched by law enforcement agencies around the world have been been associated with it for a long time."
While Russian lawmakers seem to benefit from cryptocurrencies themselves, they have actively worked against allowing crypto investments for ordinary citizens. The Russian government has not yet legalized a local cryptocurrency exchange. The central bank has clearly positioned itself against crypto investments .
Lugovoy not only finances Russia's largest over-the-counter crypto platforms, but is also known for developing local crypto laws. He is one of the authors who introduced the crypto mining bill . Lugovoy began his political career after being implicated in the 2006 poisoning of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko.
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