Authorities Take Down ‘AudiA6’ Group That Allegedly Laundered $389 Million in Bitcoin

Two individuals allegedly responsible for the laundering of more than $389 million worth of Bitcoin for the AudiA6 crypto money laundering organization were arrested and charged in the Republic of Georgia on Wednesday. 

The pair, Ruslan Igorevich Tkachuk, 37, and Alexander Vladimirovich Ledenev, 25, were both charged with one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments and one count of sting money laundering as part of an international takedown of the AudiA6 organization, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said. 

“The criminal complaint in this case alleges that Tkachuk and Ledenev are senior members of the AudiA6 organization, who manage the cryptocurrency money laundering service and the Dark2Web cybercrime forum,” the Attorney’s Office wrote. 

According to the complaint, the AudiA6 scheme advertised an offer to “conceal and disguise the source” of customer’s crypto assets that could otherwise be linked to criminal sources. In return, the organization took a 5% fee from the laundered funds. 

They were apprehended following a parallel investigation from the U.S. Secret Service, IRS, and law enforcement agencies in Australia, Germany, Japan, and other nations. That ultimately led to three searched properties, blocked accounts on social messaging platform Telegram, frozen and seized crypto assets, and a seizure banner placed on the group’s dark web site.

Using blockchain analysis, the agencies identified 10,333 BTC deposited to AudiA6 crypto accounts, valued at more than $389 million at the time of transactions. Around $19 million of those transactions were directly deposited from known illicit sources.

Tkachuk and Ledenev are currently being held by authorities in the Republic of Georgia as the U.S. Attorney’s Office seeks their expeditions to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Should they be convicted of their alleged crimes, the pair could face up to 20 years of incarceration. 

Earlier this year, funds stolen via a fake Ledger app placed in the Mac App Store were laundered through the AudiA6 services according to an analysis by pseudonymous blockchain researcher ZachXBT.