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US Treasury Imposes Sanctions Against 16 Groups And 16 Citizens Using Cryptocurrencies

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States imposed sanctions against 16 groups and 16 individuals who allegedly tried to influence the results of the presidential election using cryptocurrencies.

US President Joe Biden issued a decree declaring another state of emergency in the country in connection with the alleged “Russian interference in the elections” in the United States. The decree states that the US Treasury Department may impose further sanctions if individuals use digital assets to deceive or circumvent US economic measures. The US Treasury Department will coordinate these issues with the US Attorney General’s Office or the Secretary of State.

According to
press release OFAC, organizations that tried to “violate the integrity of the presidential election” in the United States included the news agencies SouthFront and NewsFront, as well as the Association for Free Research and International Cooperation (AFRIC), which could manipulate the politics of African countries. The sanctions list also includes the Russian analytical portal Strategic Culture Foundation and InfoRos. Pakistani firm Second Eye Solution (SES), also known as Forwarderz, which created forged documents, joined the OFAC list.

According to Chainalysis, SouthFront received about $ 12,146 in BTC, BCH and ETH. As for SES, since 2013, the firm has received over $ 2.5 million in BTC, BCH, ETH and LTC. According to analysts, Second Eye Solution actively uses bitcoins on the “major exchange”, and also accepts cryptocurrencies through the darknet, using mixers and other methods of anonymization.

According to experts at Chainalysis, Second Eye Solution produced documents only in JPEG format, so they could be used for KYC procedures, where photographs are required, or for activating accounts on social networks. The US government claims that the Russian Internet Research Agency (“troll factory”) allegedly approached the SES to acquire forged documents in order to conduct “public disinformation” campaigns.

Recall that last fall, the US Treasury accused three Russian citizens of interfering in the 2018 midterm elections in the United States.

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