Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have charged the founder of a U.S.-based cryptocurrency payments firm with operating what they allege was a sophisticated international money laundering scheme that moved over half a billion dollars on behalf of sanctioned Russian banks and other entities.
Iurii Gugnin, a 38-year-old Russian national living in Manhattan, was arrested and arraigned Monday and ordered held without bail pending trial.
Gugnin faces a 22-count indictment accusing him of wire and bank fraud, violating U.S. sanctions and export controls, money laundering, and failing to implement legally required anti-money laundering protocols.
“The defendant is charged with turning a cryptocurrency company into a covert pipeline for dirty money, moving over half a billion dollars through the U.S. financial system to aid sanctioned Russian banks and help Russian end-users acquire sensitive U.S. technology,” Assistant Attorney General Eisenberg said in a statement.
Prosecutors said Gugnin used his companies — Evita Investments and Evita Pay — to process about $530 million in payments while concealing the origins and purposes of the funds. Between June 2023 and January 2025, he allegedly funneled the money through U.S. banks and cryptocurrency exchanges, primarily using tether, a widely used, dollar-pegged stablecoin.
