FBI Seizes Crypto Exchange Allegedly Used to Launder $70M From Ransomware Attacks

Federal prosecutors in Michigan, working with international partners, have disrupted an online cryptocurrency laundering service known as E-Note and unsealed an indictment against its alleged operator, a Russian national accused of helping cybercriminals move illicit funds across borders.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan said Wednesday that the FBI, Michigan State Police, and foreign law enforcement agencies seized E-Note’s online infrastructure as part of a coordinated operation targeting a network allegedly used by transnational cybercriminal organizations, including groups that attacked U.S. healthcare systems and critical infrastructure.

Prosecutors also announced charges against Mykhalio Petrovich Chudnovets, 39, who is accused of running the service and conspiring to launder criminal proceeds. Chudnovets is charged with one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, an offense that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. The indictment, originally filed in September, was unsealed Wednesday.

“Chudnovets worked with financially motivated cybercriminals to transfer criminal proceeds across international borders and to convert criminal proceeds from cryptocurrency into fiat currencies,” read the indictment.

“Originally Chudnovets offered what appeared to be a personally provided service using individual ‘money mules’,” it went on. “Since approximately 2017, he has offered his services through an online business called e-note.”

Since 2017, the FBI has identified more than $70 million in illicit proceeds from ransomware attacks, account takeovers, and other cyber-enabled crimes that were transferred through the E-Note payment service and its associated money mule network.

According to court documents, Chudnovets started offering money laundering services to cybercriminals as early as 2010. Prosecutors allege that he later formalized and scaled those activities through E-Note, which he controlled and operated, allowing customers to move criminal proceeds internationally and convert cryptocurrency into various fiat currencies.

Authorities have seized servers hosting E-Note’s operations, mobile applications, as well as the websites “e-note.com,” “e-note.ws,” and “jabb.mn.” Investigators also obtained earlier copies of servers containing customer databases and transaction records, which are expected to aid ongoing investigations.

Despite the scale of the alleged laundering activity, E-Note appears to have maintained a low public profile. Several blockchain crime experts contacted by Decrypt said they were unfamiliar with the service and it appears to have little online presence.

An old version of its site, accessible via the Wayback Machine, suggested it was powered by a company called “E Note International FZ-LLC”. The “FZ-LLC” designation is a company type used primarily by entities based in Free Zones in the United Arab Emirates.

U.S. crypto crime crackdown

The takedown comes amid a broader U.S. law enforcement crackdown on crypto-powered crime. In recent weeks, Florida authorities announced the seizure of roughly $1.5 million in cryptocurrency tied to an investment scam, federal prosecutors charged a Ukrainian woman in connection with pro-Russia cyberattacking groups, and a California man became the ninth defendant to plead guilty to being part of a RICO-designated crypto theft ring linked to more than $263 million in stolen Bitcoin.

Crypto crime, however, continues to surge. Chainalysis estimates that $3.4 billion in cryptocurrency has been stolen so far this year, with North Korea-linked actors accounting for roughly 59% of those losses. Separately, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reported receiving about 3,200 cryptocurrency investment fraud complaints each month earlier this year.