The US Department of Justice (DOJ) charged two men over AudiA6, a crypto laundering service tied to over $389 million. Ruslan Tkachuk and Alexander Ledenev were arrested Wednesday in Batumi, Georgia.
Each defendant faces one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments and one count of sting money laundering. The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania will seek their extradition.
AudiA6 Charged up to 5% for Crypto Laundering
US Attorney David Metcalf announced the charges Thursday. The DOJ statement describes Tkachuk, 37, and Ledenev, 25, as senior members of the AudiA6 organization.
The Ukrainian and Russian nationals also allegedly manage Dark2Web, the cybercrime forum where the service advertised.
A Dark2Web advertisement offered to conceal the source of any customer’s cryptocurrency traceable to criminal activity. The service charged fees of up to 5% of the amount laundered.
Blockchain analysis showed AudiA6 wallets received roughly 10,333 Bitcoin (BTC) since 2021. The deposits were worth about $389.7 million at the time of the transactions.
Only 393.39 BTC, worth roughly $19.2 million, arrived directly from darknet markets, major ransomware groups, and cybercrime services.
That is under 4% of all deposits. Additional funds arrived indirectly from illicit sources, suggesting customers layered coins before they ever touched the service.
International Operation Dismantles AudiA6 Infrastructure
The takedown followed parallel investigations by the Secret Service’s Cyber Investigative Section, IRS Criminal Investigation, Europol, and Eurojust. Partners in 10 more countries supported the action.
Authorities targeted servers and domains in the US, Iceland, Germany, and France. They blocked Telegram accounts, froze crypto assets, and seized digital devices.
The AudiA6 and Dark2Web sites now display seizure banners, mirroring earlier darknet marketplace takedowns.
The same playbook hit a crypto mixing service in November. German and Swiss authorities seized three servers and over 25 million euros, Eurojust reported.
The DOJ has meanwhile charged two Russian nationals over a $1 billion laundering operation and pursued a billion-dollar Venezuelan scheme.
Each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted, though the complaint’s allegations remain accusations.
The sting count covers funds that investigators represented as criminal proceeds, hinting at undercover contact with the service.
Extradition proceedings in Georgia will now determine how quickly the case reaches a Philadelphia courtroom.
