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Indian police have arrested Aleksej Besciokov, co-founder of Garantex, a Russian cryptocurrency exchange sanctioned by the U.S. and the European Union for facilitating money laundering. Besciokov, a Lithuanian national, was detained in Varkala, Kerala, under India’s extradition law, according to state police officials, TechCrunch and Brian Krebs reported . The arrest occurred at 4 p.m. local time on Tuesday following an arrest warrant issued by the Patiala House Court in New Delhi. Besciokov is expected to be transferred to the court on March 14. Indian authorities have not disclosed whether the arrest was directly linked to his indictment in the U.S., but his extradition status suggests he is not facing charges within India. Garantex shut down its services on March 6 shortly after Tether froze nearly 2.5 billion USDT in Russian rubles. Besciokov’s arrest comes days after the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an indictment charging him and Garantex’s other alleged co-founder, Aleksandr Mira Serda, with conspiracy to commit money laundering. Besciokov faces additional charges for violating U.S. sanctions and operating an unlicensed money transmission business. Each charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years, with an additional five years for the unlicensed business violation. Garantex, launched in 2019, was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control in April 2022 for processing illicit funds linked to hacking, ransomware, terrorism, and drug trafficking. Despite sanctions , the exchange reportedly facilitated over $60 billion in transactions. Besciokov, known by the hacker alias “proforg,” allegedly oversaw Garantex’s technical infrastructure and approved transactions linked to North Korean cybercriminals and Russian elites evading sanctions. U.S. authorities claim he and Serda knowingly laundered illicit funds and took steps to conceal Garantex’s activities , including moving operational cryptocurrency wallets daily to bypass detection. As part of a coordinated international operation, U.S., German, and Finnish authorities seized servers hosting Garantex’s operations, while the U.S. Secret Service froze over $26 million associated with the exchange. Law enforcement also obtained copies of Garantex’s customer and accounting databases, potentially exposing further illicit activities. Besciokov was detained while vacationing with his family in India, according to sources close to the investigation. He appeared before a local court after his arrest and is set to be transferred to Delhi. The U.S. government is expected to pursue his extradition to face charges in the Eastern District of Virginia, where the indictment was filed. Mira Serda, a Russian national residing in the United Arab Emirates, remains at large. The DOJ alleges he acted as Garantex’s chief commercial officer, managing the exchange’s business operations while assisting in laundering illicit funds.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced on March 10 that the state had taken decisive action against fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes by shutting down dozens of scam websites. The announcement details: In 2024, the California Department of Justice shut down 42 fraudulent websites that scammed innocent victims out of at least $6.5 million, with an average loss per victim of $146,306. These websites were used in “pig-butchering” scams, where victims were manipulated into investing in fake crypto platforms. Bonta stressed the need for continued vigilance, stating: “Scammers can use deception and emotional manipulation to take advantage of people looking for connection.” He credited the DOJ’s efforts and the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) for their collaboration in protecting consumers. DFPI Commissioner KC Mohseni underscored the agency’s commitment to helping consumers detect and avoid scams. “As crypto scams evolve, DFPI’s Crypto Scam Tracker helps empower consumers to stay vigilant,” he stated, emphasizing the importance of verifying website domains and avoiding fraudulent platforms. The DOJ also identified ten key warning signs of fake crypto websites, including impossible rates of return, missing contact information, stolen content, and grammatical errors. These red flags were developed through the DOJ’s Cybercrime Section in partnership with the DFPI to disrupt internet-based financial crimes targeting Californians. Pig-butchering scams typically begin with scammers contacting victims through text messages or social media, slowly gaining their trust before directing them to fraudulent investment sites. Victims are led to believe their investments are growing, often prompting them to invest even more. However, when they attempt to withdraw funds, they realize the site is fake, and their money is gone. Many victims hesitate to report the crime due to shame, but authorities urge them to come forward. Bonta warned Californians to stay cautious: “Do not send money to anyone you have never met in person.” Officials encourage victims to report scams to law enforcement, the DOJ, DFPI, or the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. 免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。

House introduces companion bill to Lummis’ Bitcoin $BTC Act Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett reported on X that Rep. Nick Begich is introducing a House companion bill to Sen. Cynthia Lummis’ Bitcoin Act, with six Republican cosponsors. Lummis is also reintroducing her Senate version alongside Sen. Jim Justice. It remains to be seen if any Democratic lawmakers will support the bills.

David Bailey, a well-known Bitcoin advocate and CEO of BTC Inc, speculated that Bitcoin’s recent price decline might be connected to the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) selling activities. “If the DOJ has been liquidating America’s bitcoin with haste (in defiance of the President) ever since getting court approval to do so 3 months ago… then Bitcoin’s price action makes perfect sense,” Bailey, who recently attended the White House Crypto Summit alongside other industry leaders, wrote on X. In a follow-up statement, Bailey indicated that clarity on the situation should come within “30 days.” His comment came after President Trump issued an executive order to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve using seized coins. Under Trump’s new order, the Secretaries of Treasury and Commerce will be responsible for building budget-neutral strategies for further BTC acquisitions, provided that these strategies impose no incremental costs on American taxpayers. The exact amount of Bitcoin, as well as other altcoins seized by the US authorities, remains unknown. According to data tracked by Arkham Intelligence, a US government-labeled wallet currently holds 198,109 BTC worth nearly $16 billion. In an interview with Bloomberg TV last Friday, White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks said that the government would conduct a full audit of its crypto holdings following the establishment of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The audit is part of Trump’s executive order, which aims to ensure that all digital assets, including Bitcoin, are properly accounted for and safeguarded. According to Sacks, the DOJ may possess up to 200,000 BTC, but an official audit is necessary for verification. Last December, the DOJ was authorized to sell approximately 69,370 Bitcoin seized from the Silk Road darknet marketplace. A January report from GIP Digital Watch, however, suggested that the US government has not yet taken steps to sell their Bitcoin holdings. It’s still unclear if the DOJ has offloaded part of the government’s Bitcoin holdings. What is clear, however, is the waning enthusiasm for the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve narrative, as no new purchases are anticipated in the near future. Moreover, concerns over a potential recession have deepened after Trump left open the possibility of an economic downturn in a recent Fox News interview, adding more downward pressure on risk assets. Bitcoin hit a low of $79,300 on Monday morning as bearish sentiment continued to dominate the global financial markets, according to CoinGecko data . The total crypto market cap plunged around 5% to $2.7 trillion in the last 24 hours, while the Crypto Fear and Greed Index tumbled seven points, firmly landing in the “extreme fear” zone. Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget Research, expects Bitcoin to test support levels between $70,000 and $75,000 this week, with resistance around $85,000-$87,000. “A failure to maintain the $77,000 level could lead BTC to test the lower range of $70,000–$72,000. However, if the market sees a recovery, a potential bounce from $75,000 could push the price back into the $80,000–$85,000 range,” Lee said in a Monday note. “The most likely scenario for this week suggests a mid-week test of $72,000–$75,000, with Bitcoin stabilizing near $83,000 by March 18-19, depending on broader market sentiment, external factors like regulatory news and the upcoming FOMC meeting,” he stated.

U.S. DOJ may be liquidating Silk Road $BTC, Bitcoin Magazine CEO suggests Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey stated on X that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) may be swiftly liquidating the Bitcoin (BTC) it seized from dark web marketplace Silk Road following court approval granted three months ago. He speculated that if the DOJ is proceeding with the sales despite U.S. President Donald Trump's supportive stance on BTC, this could partly account for the recent decline in BTC's price.