BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Iurii Gugnin, 38, founder of the cryptocurrency payment company Evita, was arrested on Monday, June 9, and charged with multiple federal offenses including evading sanctions, defrauding financial institutions, and violating the Bank Secrecy Act.
Gugnin, who uses two additional aliases, appeared before United States Magistrate Judge Taryn A. Merkl for his arraignment in federal court. The New York resident and Russian citizen faces 22 counts, including wire and bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the U.S., violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program, failure to file suspicious activity reports, money laundering, and conspiracy related to these crimes.
Authorities allege Gugnin used Evita to funnel over $500 million in overseas payments through U.S. banks and cryptocurrency exchanges while concealing the source and purpose of the transactions, violating U.S. sanctions and export controls.
Gugnin was ordered detained pending trial.
