U.S. Charges Two Men for $389 Million Bitcoin and Crypto Money Laundering Scheme Tied to Dark Web

Bitcoin Magazine

U.S. Charges Two Men for $389 Million Bitcoin and Crypto Money Laundering Scheme Tied to Dark Web

Federal prosecutors in Philadelphia charged two men Wednesday with running an international bitcoin and crypto money laundering operation that processed nearly $400 million in illicit funds over five years, part of a sweeping multinational law enforcement takedown that dismantled the group’s criminal infrastructure across multiple continents.

Ruslan Igorevich Tkachuk, 37, a Ukrainian national, and Alexander Vladimirovich Ledenev, 25, a Russian national, were arrested in Batumi, Republic of Georgia, where both men reside, according to U.S. Attorney David Metcalf of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 

Each faces one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments and one count of sting money laundering — charges that carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors allege the two men were senior members of an organization that called itself “AudiA6,” which operated a cryptocurrency mixing service and managed a cybercrime forum known as Dark2Web, where users could negotiate the commission of cybercrimes for pay. Since launching in 2021, 

AudiA6 accepted approximately 10,333 Bitcoin — valued at roughly $389.7 million at the time of the transactions — into its wallets, earning at least $10 million in commission fees by charging clients up to 5% per transaction.

Of those funds, approximately 393 Bitcoin, valued at around $19.2 million, were traced directly to known darknet markets, ransomware groups, and other illicit sources, with additional funds flowing in indirectly from criminal actors. 

Despite AudiA6’s promises to clients that the mixed funds would be untraceable, investigators said blockchain analysis revealed the transactions could be followed directly through exchange records.

The case, built partly on six undercover operations conducted between December 2022 and May 2026, featured FBI and Secret Service agents posing as criminals seeking to launder proceeds from scams and narcotics sales. 

In one exchange, an AudiA6 operator responded to an agent asking whether stolen Bitcoin was acceptable by saying simply, “don’t care.” In another, when asked whether drug sale proceeds posed too great a risk, the operator replied, “Everything like that needs to go through a mixer.”

The arrests were part of a coordinated international takedown involving the U.S. Secret Service, IRS Criminal Investigation, Europol, Eurojust, and law enforcement partners from Australia, Canada, France, Georgia, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Poland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Authorities searched three properties, seized digital devices, froze cryptocurrency assets, blocked associated Telegram accounts, and replaced the AudiA6 and Dark2Web websites with law enforcement seizure banners.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said it will seek extradition of Tkachuk and Ledenev to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Benjamin D. Traster and Sima Kazmir.

This post U.S. Charges Two Men for $389 Million Bitcoin and Crypto Money Laundering Scheme Tied to Dark Web first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.