A Russian man suspected of laundering ransomware payments in cryptocurrency on behalf of cyber criminals targeting hospitals has been extradited to the United States by the Netherlands. The man was allegedly involved in this criminal activity for three years before his arrest in Amsterdam last November.
A Russian money laundering suspect was extradited by Dutch authorities to the United States
Denis Dubnikov, a 29-year-old Russian national, was extradited from the Netherlands to the United States this week to face money laundering charges in the District of Oregon, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced.
Dubnikov made his first appearance in federal court on Wednesday, and his five-day jury trial is scheduled to begin on October 4. In August, a federal grand jury in Portland indicted him for his role in an international crypto money laundering conspiracy.
According to the indictment, the Russians and their accomplices knowingly and intentionally laundered the proceeds of ransomware attacks against individuals and organizations throughout the United States and in other countries between at least August 2018 and August 2021.
The perpetrators specifically funded ransom payments extracted from victims of the Ryuk ransomware attack, a type of software first identified four years ago that attempts to encrypt files and delete system backups, with Russian ransomware groups It has been linked to the Covid-19 outbreak, of which U.S. hospitals and health care providers have become victims.
In July 2019, Dubnikov allegedly laundered more than $400,000 in Ryuk ransom proceeds, DOJ said in a statement. Those involved in the conspiracy laundered at least $70 million in total. If convicted, the Russians could face up to 20 years in prison.
Denis Dubnikov was detained in Amsterdam on November 1, 2021. Speaking to Russian media at the time, his lawyer, Arkady Bukh, claimed that he was “effectively kidnapped” by U.S. law enforcement in Mexico before being extradited to Europe.
The co-founder of coin trading platforms Coyote Crypto and Eggchange was first detained at the Mexico City airport, where he arrived on vacation, and then put on a flight to the Netherlands, where he was arrested by Dutch authorities.
Dubnikov’s extradition followed a similar development in the case of Alexander Vinnik, the alleged operator of the notorious cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e. Vinnik was arrested in the summer of 2017 in the Greek city of Thessaloniki, where he came for a summer vacation with his family. He was arrested on a warrant from the United States accusing him of laundering at least $4 billion through a now-defunct crypto trading platform.
The Russian IT expert was first turned over to French judicial authorities and sentenced to five years in prison for money laundering. After serving his sentence in France, Vinnik was returned to Greece and extradited to the United States. This hasty transfer infuriated his lawyers, who believe he will be a “hostage” of the current geopolitical tensions surrounding the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Moscow accused Washington of conducting a “real hunt for Russian citizens.”
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