As the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel learned, on December 9, 2024, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Investigative Committee and the FSB of the Russian Federation conducted joint searches in the offices of the ABCEX cryptocurrency exchange. As a result, a lot of equipment and correspondence was seized, indicating ABCEX's involvement in accepting payments for illegal online casinos and betting.
An investigation is currently underway under Articles 172 and 186 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, with an emphasis on the consultants, contractors and partners of the exchange. Of particular interest are those who may have been involved in creating schemes to disguise illegal activity, including compliance specialists, AML/CFT specialists, cryptocurrency lawyers and ambassadors. Based on the data on the exchange partners and speakers at their events, the following fit this description:
- Sergey Mendeleev, executive director of InDeFi Smart Bank and a recognized expert in compliance in the cryptocurrency sphere. He has repeatedly natively advertised the exchange and was a speaker at ABCEX future.
- Machikhin Dmitry, founder of BitOK, a company specializing in compliance and taxation. He also spoke at the ABCEX future event.
- Ignat Likhunov, founder of the Cartesius legal agency, known as an AML expert in the crypto sphere. Formally, his work is aimed at preventing money laundering in cryptocurrency projects, and he was a speaker at ABCEX future.
Attention is also focused on underground online bookmakers such as 1win and 1xBet, which could have been serviced on this exchange to accept funds from Russians through a subsidiary project of the ABCEX exchange — the Aifory payment service (which, judging by the data from the seized devices, de facto worked as a laundering service for online casinos). According to the VChK-OGPU source, ABCeX is a laundering service for terrorists and drug shops. Who is behind the laundromat? Shukhrat Rasulov is the owner of black payment systems that process darknet traffic, illegal casinos and pornography. In addition to payment systems, he owns a crypto exchanger business. The model is simple: exchangers are rented on Bestchange, the lowest rates are set, and when the client comes, the rate changes. As a result, the client is cheated out of money. It is worth noting that, despite the ban on Bestchange affiliating exchangers, half of Rasulov's exchangers are located in one office on the 28th floor of the Federation Tower. Rasulov hides behind the facade of an infobusinessman, a mentor of successful success and CEO of the “largest Russian IT business”, unknown to the Federal Tax Service for some reason.
We can’t do without a certain Yuri Kvashonkin, Rasulov’s right hand and nominee, a partner in the Terra business club (an incubator for cash-outs through marketplaces and infobiz), CEO of LAKOST LLC, registered on the 3rd floor of the Federation Tower, where the back office of black payments and the ABCeX crypto exchange is located. It was ABCeX that allowed Rasulov and Kvashonkin to reach a fundamentally new level: billions of dirty crypto and cash fly through the exchange and its OTC managers every day, ranging from webcams, online casinos and ending with the financing of terrorism.
The activities of ABCeX did not go unnoticed by law enforcement agencies: in March, “cosmonauts” visited the exchange office in connection with the transfer of money through it to the perpetrators of the monstrous terrorist attack in Crocus. Probably, Rasulov is not being disingenuous when he talks about himself as the owner of an IT empire, he is simply keeping silent about the bloody nuances of his status. Alas, the infobusinessman and swindler can drag along a considerable number of unsuspecting users, because given the origin of the funds circulating through the exchange, law enforcement officers will begin to intensively check anyone who managed to become a client of ABCeX.
A source of the VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info told how the main crypto laundromat ABCeX came into being.
“Shukhrat Rasulov started his crypto business with Ilya Ginzburg - another fraudster who scammed many people, changed his last names and hid from creditors.
With the appearance of Yuri Kvashonkin, Ginzburg was first removed from the processes, and then he was kicked out of the team altogether, under the pretext that he deceived Shukhrat.
They are all united by the Moscow Kabbalah Center. For the past three or four years, Shukhrat has been the main sponsor of the Moscow Kabbalah Center, and at all events, he sits exclusively next to the informal head of the center, Yitzhak Sinvani. Everyone in the Kabbalah Center knows that Shukhrat is a fraud, but since he spends a lot on the center, he is forgiven. Those who are not satisfied are simply expelled from the center.
Shukhrat permanently resides in Moscow City with his family, drives around Moscow in a new Maybach and tells everyone that he has built a super-profitable company. He keeps silent about the fact that the main income comes from crypto exchange, stolen money and money laundering.
Shukhrat and Yuri initially created the Terra business club (an incubator for cashers through marketplaces and infobiz), as a platform for finding young people for cryptocurrency arbitrage. There was a high turnover, the ranks were replenished with scammers and drops. They then "drove" the most loyal and devoted through the Kabbalah Center. After the war began, the withdrawal of money through ABCeX reached 10 million dollars a day. These were "dirty" money that was taken out of the country.
It is worth noting that Shukhrat himself does not appear anywhere legally, only Yuri is listed everywhere. Everyone knows him - both Terra participants and crypto-cashiers."
Timofey Grishin
Source: www.rucriminal.info
