US Defendant Allegedly Laundered Over $500M through US Financial System

A 38-year-old Russian national, Iurii Gugnin, has been arrested and charged with various offenses related to laundering over $500 million through the US financial system. According to court documents, Gugnin used his cryptocurrency company, Evita, to funnel payments from foreign customers, many of whom held funds at sanctioned Russian banks, while hiding the source and purpose of the transactions.

Gugnin is charged with wire and bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, failing to implement an effective anti-money laundering compliance program, failing to file suspicious activity reports, money laundering, and related conspiracy charges.

Key Takeaways:

Gugnin allegedly laundered over $500 million through the US financial system using his cryptocurrency company, Evita, between June 2023 and January 2025.
Evita was used to facilitate payments for foreign customers, many of whom held funds at sanctioned Russian banks, including PJSC Sberbank, PJSC Sovcombank, PJSC VTB Bank, and JSC Tinkoff Bank.
Gugnin maintained personal accounts at two sanctioned Russian banks, JSC Alfa-Bank and PJSC Sberbank, and transacted with them while residing in the US.
He also facilitated payments to procure sensitive electronics, including an export-controlled server designed by a US technology company, and laundered funds from a Moscow-based supplier to purchase parts for Rosatom, Russia's state-owned nuclear technology company.
Gugnin failed to implement Evita's own anti-money laundering program and failed to file suspicious activity reports, as required under the Bank Secrecy Act.
He registered Evita Pay as a money transmitter with FinCEN and the state of Florida by making materially false statements to the state of Florida about Evita Pay's business.

Statistics:

$530 million: The approximate amount laundered through the US financial system between June 2023 and January 2025.
22 counts: The number of charges filed against Gugnin, including wire and bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and money laundering.
30 years: The maximum penalty for each count of bank fraud.
20 years: The maximum penalty for each of the wire fraud, IEEPA, money laundering, and related conspiracy counts.
10 years: The maximum penalty for failure to implement an effective anti-money laundering program and failure to file suspicious activity reports.
5 years: The maximum penalty for conspiracy to defraud the United States and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.

Sources:

US Department of Justice
National Security Division's Counterintelligence and Export Control Section
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)
State of Florida
Contify.com