US Designates Members of Network Helping Russian Elites Evade Sanctions
The U.S. announced sanctions this week against five people and four companies connected to the TGR Group, a network of businesses and their employees that help Russian elites evade sanctions. The designations were the result of an international investigation by the U.S., the U.K. and the United Arab Emirates that the U.K.’s National Crime Agency said exposed Russian money laundering networks with touchpoints in Great Britain, the U.S., the Middle East and South America.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned the leader of TGR Group, Russia-born Ukrainian national George Rossi, along with others connected to the network, including Russian national Elena Chirkinyan and Latvian national Andrejs Bradens. The agency said TGR Group works to “obfuscate the illicit activities of its clients,” including through cryptocurrency services and money laundering for sanctioned people and entities.
OFAC also designated Moscow-based TGR Partners, which provides many of those financial services to TGR Group clients and has locations in the U.K. and elsewhere in Europe and Asia. The agency also sanctioned TGR Corporate Concierge LTD, a U.K.-based entity owned and directed by Bradens; TGR DWC-LLC, a UAE-based entity that is managed by Chirkinyan; Siam Expert Trading Company Limited, a Thailand-based entity that helped move electronics to Russia and is associated with Bradens; and Wyoming-based Pullman Global Solutions LLC, also owned by Bradens.
Others sanctions include associates of Russian money launderer Ekaterina Zhdanova, who leads the Russia-based Smart Group and who OFAC sanctioned in 2023 (see 2311030012). The agency said Khadzi-Murat Dalgatovich Magomedov has worked with Zhdanova to “facilitate bulk cash and cryptocurrency money laundering transactions internationally,” and Nikita Vladimirovich Krasnov also has worked as a “key money laundering partner” of Zhdanova.
The U.K. said it identified many of the companies and people propping up the TGR Group and Smart Group network through an international investigation unveiled Dec. 4. Along with the OFAC sanctions, the country’s National Crime Agency said its investigation has so far led to 84 arrests of people connected to the networks, with “many” already serving prison sentences, and the seizure of more than $25 million in cash and cryptocurrency.
The NCA’s investigation, which it called “Operation Destabilise,” showed the networks collected funds in one country and made the “equivalent value available in another, often by swapping cryptocurrency for cash.” That helped designated Russians move cash “while simultaneously laundering crypto for cyber criminals, and helping Russian oligarchs and elites to bypass sanctions.”
NCA said the U.K. was a “key hub” for that activity.